A Colonel, the Gestapo and a firing squad
by HoganTime
Summary: COMPLETE. Due to a stupidity from Colonel Crittendon, Hogan and his men find themselves in a difficult situation, which involves A Colonel, the Gestapo and in the end a firing squad.
1. Beloved Crittendon

This story is translated from a story, which I originally wrote in German, on another fanfiction website. No ownership of Hogans Heroes characters is implied, as usual.

Crittendon sat in his barack at Stalag 6, thinking of a way to get away from this prison camp. "The Germans will never be able to hold onto such an intelligent colonel as I am.", he thought. After an hour he laughed and cried out: "I know it!". Then he sat down and wrote the following letter:

Colonel Hogan,

I, the genius Crittendon want to escape and as I outrank you, I command you to help me. Every minute I am imprisoned is of great loss for the allied victory, so you have to help me. Tomorrow night, I will be around Stalag 13, at one o´clock. You will come and pick me up and then get me out of Germany with the help of your tunnel system. Please arrange everything for my escape.

Colonel Crittendon, alias "The Genius"

After he had finished the letter, he slowly he walked out of the barracks and headed for the Kommandants office. When the Kommandant finally let him in, he gave him the letter and said: "Would you please send this to Colonel Robert Hogan, he is in Stalag 13. It is of great urgency.". Then Crittendon saluted and went out of the office again. Berger, the commander of Stalag 6 was stunned, he did not know how to react. How did Crittendon know where this Hogan was? What matter could be of great urgency to a prisoner of war? Curious, he opened the letter and read it. While he was reading it, his eyes widened in surpirse. Could this be? Could this Crittendon really be that stupid?

Without thinking anymore, Berger took hold of the telephone and dialed the number of the _SS-Dienststelle _in Hammelburg. After a short time, he got major Hochstetter on the line and said: "Heil Hitler, major. I found out something, that I think is of great interest to you. I have got here a letter, written by my senoir POW colonel Crittendon. In this letter, he begs a certain colonel Hogan for help to escape. In the letter, he also mentions a secret tunnel system under Stalag 13. What shall I do?". Hochstetter cried out in pleasure: "Now I´ve got him, that nasty Hogan guy. This time he won´t escape. Don´t do anythin Berger, wait for me to arrive. Heil Hitler.".. After he had put down the telephone, Hochstetter called for an SS-patrol, to guard the area around the camp.

Hochstetter and his men had ben waiting since ten o´clock, when they finally heard a noise coming from behind a bush. A moment later, they saw Crittendon crouching out of the woods. In a few seconds, he was surrounded by the SS men. He looked around in surprise and a bit angry he said: "Hey, you´re not Colonel Hogan!". Hochstetter let out a mad laugh and brought his face down at Crittendons level, then he whispered: "Crittendon, you don´t know, how helpful you´ve been to us.", then turning to the guards, he shouted: "Take him away to the Gestapo headquarters, I think, he´s got a lot more information he can tell us.". In this moment, Crittendon finally realised, that he had walked straight into a trap. What a mess, he thought, and were are Hogan and his men? Why aren´t they here, where they should be?

At the Gestapo headquarters, Crittendon was brought into the interrogation room. Only the smell, that came out of the room and the bloodstains on the ground made Crittendon collapse. He broke down at Hochstetters feet and vomited over the boots of the Gestapo-man. Disgusted, Hochstetter jumped away. "You filthy English swine, didn´t you realiuse, this is just the beginning? You haven´t seen half of the things I am going to show you.". Abruptely, he stopped, as he noticed, that Crittendon had fainted. "Aaaaaaaaargh!", he shouted, "Guards! Get a bucket of water and throw it onto him, make him conscious again! I need to talk to him!". Minutes later, Crittendon, al wet, was conscious again. Hochstetter decided, that with force he would not succeed with this man, or only if he had lots of time, because Crittendon looked as if he would collapse again at any moment. Hochstetter decided, that it would be better to try it with being gently, hoping on Crittendons stupidity, which was so obvious, even the Gestapo-man could notice. Under his desk, he started a small tape recording device, to use as a prove against Hogan, if Crittendon would reveal anything that would be valuable to him.

"Crittendon, we studied your letter to colonel Hogan, there is no way you can deny its content, so what do you say?". Crittendon had finally realised, in which trouble he had put Hogan and he did not want to make the matter worse, so he said: "Well, I knew Hogan, when I was still in the Airforce. There he was known as being an excellent strategist and an outrageous pilot. When he was shot down, I heard he was imprisoned at Stalag 13 and I thought he might be able to help me. That´s everything I know". Hochstetter nearly exploded: "Aaargh! That´s not true, you know much, much more about him! You mentioned his tunnel system in your letter! Tell me!". As Crittendon shook his head, Hochstetter called in the guards and ccommanded them to "help" with the interrogation. Unfortunatly, at the first sing of them, helping, Crittendon collapsed again. Hochstetter, finally losing his temper entirely commanded the guards to bring Crittendon back to his cell and leave him alone untill tomorrow.

In his cell, Crittendon awoke and immediatly realised how wrong his whole plan had went. There must be a way, to get Hogan and his men out of this mess, which I put them in, he thought. After a short time of thinking, he finally had a plan. He would tell Hochstetter something about Hogan and his men, in trade for him to be set free, then he would run of and warn Hogan and the others. Quite satisfied with his little plan, Crittendon got back to sleep.

The next morning, the guard came to take him for interrogation. Almost happy, Crittendon followed him along the long, nearly endless corridors. When they arrived, Crittendon said to Hochstetter: "Major, I had a nice thought about this whole situation this night. I will give you all information you need, if you set me free after I´ve given you everything.". Hochstetter was overwhelmed. This man, there wasn´t anything more stupid in this whole war, except of Klink maybe, he thougt. When he found back his speech, he said: "Of copurse colonel, you tell us and we will set you free.". Under the desk he started the tape recorder again. Crittendon began: Well, colonel Hogan runs an intelligence and sabotage unit at Stalag 13. A small one, but very effective. Actually, he is the only one involved. He gets messags from London, picks up pilots, who were shot down, carries out sabotage missions, such as blowing up bridges and he is involved in many escapes, happening from other camps. He is known as Papa Bear and the main coordinator of al sabotage activities in this area. At least, the story of the tunnel is not tue, he comes in and out of the camp, by a hole in the fence, which is at the north-side of the camp. This really is everything I know.". Hochstetter laughed his mad laugh and said to Crittendon: "Very nice, colonel, that´s al I need. You will be released in a couple of days, after we´ve assasinated Hogan.". Laughing again, he strolled out of the room. Crittendon was left behind, stunned by the impact of his own plan. A few minutes later, he was back in his cell, trying to think about a solution, but he didn´t know one.............

Hochstetter put the tape in his pocket, jumped into his car and headed straight to Stalag 13. Klink was in his office, when he saw Hochstetters car coming into the front gate. What have I done this time? His thoughts were disturbed, when Schultz hurried into his office: "Major Hochstetter is here, Kommandant, he...". Schultz could not end his sentence, because Hochstetter pushed him awside, facing Klink, with a mad look in his eyes. "Klink, where is Hogan?". Klink saluted and answered: "Where should he be? In his barrack of course, where I ordered him to be, he wouldn´t think about disobeying my order, because I am a tiger and my personal". With a loud waaargh, Hochstetter stopped Klnk from speaking any further, then he shouted: "Schultz, get Hogan for me, now!". Klink could not say a word. This Gestapo-guy jumps in here, wants to see my prisoners, commands my guards around? Before he could protest, Hocchstetter shouted: "And don´t say a word Klink!, or you will be the next man, facing the anger of the Gestapo!". Klink nodded, totally intimidated. Both waited for the arrival of colonel Hogan.

Schultz came into barracks 2 and shouted, "Colonel Hogan, major Hochstetter wants to see me, please come, he is already really angry.". The fear in Schultz´s voice was obvious, so Hogan did not want to make him even more upset. While going out, he whispered to Lebeau, "Go, take the coffepot and listen, if there is something wrong, run! This is an order.". Lebeau nodded and Hogan went out of the barracks. Following the guard he said: "He schultz, what does that guy want from me? Have I done anything wrong in the last time? Haven´t I been nice enough to our little commanding tiger?". Grinning he looked at Schultz, who did not answer. "Hey Schultz, what´s the matter with you? You´re not at all like your usual warm self. Whats up?". "Well, colonel, honestly, I am really afraid. What is that Gestapo msjor doing here? The Gestapo always causes trouble, always".

When they arrived at Klinks office, Schultz stopped and let Hogan go in. Hogan walked throught the doorway and stood now in the middle of Klinks office, facing Hochstetter and Klink, who were both standing behind Klinks desk. When Hochstetter saw him, he cried out: "Klink, WHAT IS THIS MAN DOING HERE?". Klink said: "This is colonel Robert E. Hogan, my senior POW, he". Again he was stopped from talking, by a loud waargh from Hochstetter. Hogan, looking amused at this sight now turned its full attention towards the small German major, who finally seemed to come to the point.

"Hogan, now I´ve got you. On this tape, **he reached into his pocket and retrieved the tape**, I´ve got the prove, that you are running a sabotage unit. And, as an additional prove, we got this letter from Crittendon, which he wanted to send to you. Here, you can read it.". Hogan took the letter. As he read, al colour drained from his face. How could Crittendon have done this? Why? Why did he put the lives of so many men in danger? Before he could finish thinking about the most painful way, he could kill Crittendon, if he would ever have a chance to do so, Hochstetter turned on the tape recorder and said: "And just listen to this, colonel". After he had heard the tape, Hogan felt an enormous rage coming up. He wanted to have Crittendon right here, now, so that he could tear him apart for his stupidity. After his rage had calmed a bit, he wondered. Why didn´t Crittendon mention his men? Why only Hogan? Before he could think of a reason, Hogan felt a pair of handcuffs clicking around his wrists. Hochstetter said: "Now Hogan, we will take you to Berlin tomorrow for further interrogation. You will spend the rest of your stay in this camp in the solitary confinement. Scultz, take him away.". This was to much for Klink. He burst out in a rage of anger: "Hochstetter, you won´t do anything! You come in here, command my men, want to take away my prisoners. You are not going to. I outrank you, so I command you to leave this camp alone until you´ve got a signed order from the Luftwaffe staff, that tells you can take Hogan.". Hochstetter turned purple: "KLINK!!! You fool! I will do how I please! I am a member of the Gestapo! Himmler himself will come to know about your disrespect! I will report to Berlin, that you are trying to protect an allied flyer! I will ruin your career, your life, your family, everything if you don´t let me alone!". Klink, shocked by this sudden outburst of anger backed away and slowly said, with a fearful, shaky voice: "Yes, major. H-h-heil". Befor Klink finished Hochstetter got out of the office, taking Hogan to the solitary confinement cell. Before he closed the door he shouted at Hogan: "This time, you are not going to escape colonel. This time you will find yourself facing a firing squad!".


	2. Goodbye, forever?

Hochstetter slammed the door shut behind him and Hogan was alone. His mind was racing. _What am I going to do now? Hochstetter has got prove now, that I am responsible for al the sabotage activity in this region. How can I save the operation? And, how can I save myself? Crittendon you idiot, what´s the point of this? Why did you do this? Didn´t you think? Ok Robert, calm down now. Nothing has happened to you yet. Concentrate. Think. What does Hochstetter know? Oh this won´t bring me any farther, he knows to much, thats for sure. How can I twist this, so that everybody comes out of it unharmed? _Hogan covered his face in his hands, ignoring the pounding headache that had come up. _Ok, at least Hochstetter doesn´t know about my men. He only knows about me, so the only one I have to take care about is me, that makes it a lot easier. If I die.... No, I don´t want to die, I need to come out of this and go on with the operation, but how?_ His mind still full of questions, Hogan laid down on the small bed in the corner. Staring at the ceiling he tried to think of a plan, a really good plan, but nothing came. He had to admit to himself, that the mess was to big, that he did not know a way to save himself. He wanted to go to sleep, but in that moment Schultz burst into the cell and gasped: "Colonel, you-you don´t have anything to do with this, do you? You don´t know anything about this? Please Colonel, you´re innocent, are you?". Almost begging for the answer that Hogan was innocent, Schultz stood in the doorway. Hogan rose up from the bed and facing Schultz he said: "Schultz, do you really want to know this?". Schultz looked at the Colonel and then he shook his head: "Of course not Colonel, I don´t see anything, I don´t know anything. I will tell the boys what happened, maybe they can help you. I will bring your dinner in a moment.". Then he turned around and ran out of the cell, leaving his rifle behind, leaning against the wall. Hogan smiled when he saw this. Maybe he could take the rifle and escape? In the same moment the thought came up, he shook his head. It would be impossible, he would have been shot, before he had walked out of the camp. Again he was disturbed in his thoughts by Schultz, who came in to bring the dinner and retrieve his rifle. With a disgusted look Hogan accepted the plate. _What the hell is this? Is this food?_ He stared at the brown and green mass of what seemed to be some sort of slime. The smell which came from the plate was unbearable so Hogan threw the plate into the corner, which was the most far away corner available. Then he sat down to think again.

Kinch and the others exchanged shocked looks as they turned off the coffeepot. Kinch was the first to refind his speech: "Oh gosh, now the Colonel is really in trouble. What do we do? How do we save him?". Nobody answered, al of them were absorbed in their thoughts. Before anyone could make a suggestion, Schultz rushed into the barrack, totally shocked. Kinch hurried to support the guard, who looked as if he were about to collapse. He was breathing fast, obviously had ran from the solitary confinement to here, and his face was al white. "Schultz, what is it. Come on sit down boy and tell us, what happened?". Schultz finally regained his breath and gasped: "Boys, Colonel Hogan, he was taken prisoner by Hochstetter, he says the Colonel was involved with the sabotage actions here in the area. He-he-he wants to take the Colonel to Berlin to interrogate him at the Gestapo headquarters! ". Before Schultz could go on, Kinch interrupted him: "We know Schultzie, we know.". A startled look from Schultz made Kinch almost grin, but then he realised in which situation they were and he turned serious again. Then he said: "Boys, we have to talk to the Colonel first. He will know what to do. We can´t do anything without asking him so, Newkirk go through the tunnel and talk to him. Ask him what we can do.". Newkirk nodded, walked over to the bed, under which they had hidden the entrance to the tunnel and vanished. Schultz, again wearing a shocked expression on his face sat down at the table and said: "Oh God, I don´t want to see this. I don´t see anything, I don´t know anything!".

Newkirk crouched through the tunnel, untill he finally reached the end. Then he tried to push the stone aside, which hid the entrance from view. To his surprise he discovered, that something was blocking the entrance. Then he heard a whisper: "Newkirk, it´s me, Colonel Hogan. You can´t come in here now. There are guards everywhere. I will try to get permission to come to our barrack in the morning.". "Y-y-es, Sir.". Then Newkirk vanished again. Hogan sighed. He would have really liked to talk to Newkirk, he needed someone to talk to, but he could not take the risk to reveal the secret of their tunnel system. Tired he leaned against the wall and fell asleep.

Newkirk, who had come back told the others what had happened in the solitary confinement. Kinch sighed: "We can´t do anything about it now. Let´s go to sleep, maybe tomorrow we will be able to help him.". Carter protested: "But if we don´t do anything this evening, they will take him away tomorrow. They will take him to Berlin, we will never be able to get hold onto him, when he is there! And-and when he is there, he-he-he might never c-c-ome b-b-ack.". Carter had spoken the fears of all, the fears nobody had wanted to express. Kinch walked over to Carter, patting him on the shoulder and said: "It won´t help the Colonel if we do something stupid now. We will only get him into a much bigger mess than he already is in. We will have to wait, allthough it is difficult. Carter, I assure you, if we can do something we will do it.".Silently Carter nodded, his eyes full of unanswered doubts, but he kept quiet. He did not want the others to worry morte than they already did. Then they al went to bed, but nobody slept this night.

The next morning, Hogan was woken up early, when Schultz came into the cell, carrying a pair of handcuffs. "Colonel, Hochstetter wants to leave for Berlin and he asked me to get you. I am sorry Colonel, but I have to put these onto your wrists, I don´t mean to and I really don´t want to. You must understand Colonel, please don´t make a fuss, let..". Schultz was interrupted by Hogan, who had been holding his wrists under Schultzs nose, for more than a minute. "Of course, Colonel, I was a bit confused, you see and-". Again Hogan interrupted Schultz: "I know Schultz, now let´s go.". Schultz nodded and walked out. Hogan followed him, giving Schultz his rifle back, which he had left in the cell again. Then he said to Schultz: "Look Schultz, could I say goodbye to my boys, I mean it might be the last time for a long time, so-". "Of course Colonel, if it doesn´t take to long....". "Thanks Schultzie.". Then Hogan walked into barrack 2.

Lebeau, Kinch, Carter and Newkirk were very surpirsed by Hogans sudden appearance. Carter smiled and said: "Hey Colonel, did they release you?". Hogan shook his head, showing them the handcuffs. All faces suddenly went dark, because they knew what was going to happen now. If Hogan hadn´t been released, he was here to say goodbye. Then Hogan spoke: "Boys, we don´t have much time. In a few minutes Hochstetter´s taking me to Berling for interrogation. I don´t know if I will come back. If I don´t come back and you think there´s something wrong, don´t stay behind and wait for me. Don´t try to save me. Destroy everything and run! I don´t know how long I can stand the methods of the Gestapo. It won´t help me to have you standing beside me in front of a firing squad.". Hogan turned around. He did not want them to see, that he had difficulty coping with their shocked faces. He did not want them to know, that he was afraid of dying. He did not want them to know that it hurt him to leave them behind, unprotected. When he had got his emotions under control again he faced them again: "Boys, I know you want to come and save me, but this is not going to happen. Save yourself. This is.... an order.". The last words came with difficulty. He looked down at the floor. When he looked up again he looked right into Carters eyes, full of unshed tears, Lebeaus white face, telling him more than thousand words, Newkirks nervous hands, torturing his card game and Kinch, biting his lip. Hogan pulled himself together again, before saying: "Boys, it was an honor for me to have worked with you. I- Oh man, al those meaningless words, you lot are just the best friends a man can have.". Then he turned around and wanted to walk out of the barack, trying to hide his feelings, but he was held back by Carter. "Boy, I mean Colonel, you are the greatest commanding officer a soldier can have and also a friend and-". Unable to find words to express what he felt, Carter just remained silent for the rest of the time they stand facing each other. Then Schultz came to take Hogan away. When he led him out of the barrack, Hogan turned around and smiled, trying to comfort his men. _Maybe this is the last time we see him smile_, Kinch thought. A moment later, he pushed away the thought. Hogan would return, he had to believe in that or he would not be able to stay in this camp. Silently, they al sat down at the table, thinking. Hogans place was empty. After a minute, everyone was looking at the empty chair. Would there ever be someone sitting there again, joking, laughing?

While Hogan was waiting for the truck to come, Klink came out of his office, shouting: "Schultz, bring Hogan into my office, now. I have to have a quick word with him.".

When Hogan was in Klinks office, Klink started to talk: "Hogan I am sorry I can´t help you. Just show Hochstetter what´s in you. The cognac is waiting for you. Dismissed!". Surprised, Hogan walked out of the office. Klink, a German telling him to stand against Hochstetter? He didn´t have time to wonder, because Hochstetter and his men had come. Hochstetter jumped out of his car and faced Hogan. "Aha, there you are Hogan. Hey what´s that? Schultz, why did you put the handcuffs on like this. He´s got his hands in front of his body. This doesn´t make sense! Turn around Hogan!". Hogan, who realised that it did not make sense to refuse and turned around. In a moment, Hochstetter had put Hogans wrists behind his back. The handcuffs clicked. "Now, get into the truck.". "How should I major? The truck is about a meter above the ground and I can´t use my hands. Don´t ask the impossible from me.". Hochstetter didn´t answer. He just waved his hands to his men. They jumped out of the truck, got hold of Hogan and threw him onto the truck as if he were a suitcase or something. With a loud bam Hogan landed flat on his face. While he was trying to get up again Hochstetters men got onto the truck and it started driving. With al the holes in the street, the truck bumped up and down. Hogan wasn´t able to get up and rolled from one side of the truck to another. After a while, he did not realise it anymore.

Whe they arrived at the Gestapo headquarters, hours later, to Hogan it seemed like days. Hochstetter did not even make the effort to ask Hogan to get out of the truck. Hochstetters men took him and threw him out of the truck. Again he landed flat on his chest, without being able to protect himself with his hands. Tasting the blood, running down his lip, Hogan was carried into the headquarters. When they finally arrived at a prison cell, the took the handcuffs of. The door was slammed shut and Hogan was alone. Rubbing his wrists, he looked around. There was an awful smell in this room, blood mixed with sweat and fear. On the other side of the corridor he heard screams. Tasting the blood from his lip again he thought_ Just stay alive Robert, al you have to do is to stay alive._


	3. New face, new problems

When Hogan woke up the next morning, he didn´t realise where he was. As he opened his eyes, he discovered that he was lying on the floor. When he saw what was on the floor, he sat up immediatly. He had been lying in some dried blood for the entire night. At this moment he realised in which trouble he was. The Gestapo were not like Klink, they would not ask politely untill Hogan told them what they wanted. They would use force. As to confirm this, he heard someone screaming, somewhere in the building. The cries did not sound human, but Hogan knew they were. Hogan was disturbed in his thoughts by Hochstetter coming into the cell, smiling.

"And Hogan, did you sleep well?", he grinned, "I am here to take you to Obergruppenführer Wachtelschneider, he wants to ask you a few questions. ", then turning to the guards: "Guards, take him away!".

When the guards had handcuffed Hogan, they took him out of the cell. When Hogan passed Hochstetter he said, with an ironic undertone in his voice: "And major had some fun with your prisoners this morning? The screams of delight disturbed my sleep.".

The words did not have the effect, which Hogan had hoped of. Instead that Hochstetter turned angry he just gave a delightful smile: "Yes Hogan and if I were you, I would watch my words. You don´t know, who´s next.......".

With a disgusted look Hogan let his guards take him away. _This little idiot really thinks its fun to torture other men. He really enjoys causing pain. And you´re maybe going to be next..........._

When they arrived at Wachtelschneiders office, Hochstetter adressed Hogan again: "Hogan, if I were you, I would tell the truth, Wachtelschneider will get to know it anyway......". He smiled again and walked away.

Hogan, cursing Hochstetter in his mind walked into the room and just resisted the impulse to run away. In this room, he could feel the fear. The atmosphere was cold, not the temperature made it that way, no, it was the person behind the desk.

Hogan looked at him, straight into the blue eyes. He had never seen such blue eyes before, they were not blue like the sea, they were like blue ice. Hogan turned his eyes to the rest of the person. He had blond hair, nearly white.

_So this is the Übermensch. Blond, blue eyes, Hitlers beloved Herrenrasse. I´d rather deal with Hochstetter_. _He is like a tiny, fluffy rabbit compared to this guy._

Then Wachtelschneider spoke: "So you are the famous Colonel Hogan?". Hogan could not do anything but nod. The coldness and hatred in Wachtelschneiders voice had robbed his speech.

When he finally refound his speech he said: "Robert E. Hogan, Colonel US Army AirCorps, 0876707".

Wachtelschneider shook his head: "Come on Colonel, we are to old to play. Don´t tell us what we already know. Lets have a talk. How is your family?".

Hogan knew what Wachtelschneider wanted. He wanted Hogan to get into a little talk and then when his attention faded away, he might say something, which he should not say. _Oh no Wachtelschneider. You won´t get me that easy._

"They´re fine, I think. It has been ages since the last letter from home arrived.". Wachtelschneider nodded: "Yes, i know, letters don´t find their way that easy from America to Germany. But lets talk about your situation. Do you like Stalag13?".

"Like? How could I like a place in which I am held prisoner? And Klink you know, he is really on our heels. We can´t do anything without him knowing. We once tried digging a tunnel and he discovered it. We have tried to escape many times, but he always knows.".

They talked for hours before Hogan was finally brought back to his cell. Hogan was quite satisfied with himself. He had not released any important information and when Wachtelschneider believed what he had told him, Klink was totally out of danger. After hearing Hogans story, Wachtelschneider must think Klink to be some sort of superhero. Hogan smiled and went to sleep.

In the next days, the talks continued in the same way they had done the first day. Hogan was growing impatient. Why didn´t Wachtelschneider come to the point? Why didn´t he show his real face? Hogan didn´t know, that Wachtelschneider had been thinking of the same things and had decided to change his tactic.

Earlier than the other days, Hogan was woken up by a guard and brought to Wachtelschneider. As he entered the room, he sensed that something was different. He felt, that something in Wachtelschneider had changed. He seemed more resolute than he had done before.

Wachtelschneider said: "Hogan, we have been playing enough. The game is over. It is time that you tell me what you know.".

Hogan nodded and said: "Ok, I will tell you. Robert E. Hogan, Colonel, US Army AirCorps, 0876707. I don´t know anything else."

Wachtelschneider shook his head, then he gestured to the two guards, who had come into the room with Hogan. The two now stood beside Hogan, each on one side. Wachtelschneider nodded. In the next moment, Hogan found himself on the floor, his wrist aching as one of the guards twisted it farther than possible. Nearly he screamed out in pain, but he held his voice back.

He is not getting the satisfaction of me screaming in pain. I am not going to show him any weakness. He is not going to get anything........

Wachtelschneider adressed him again "Hogan, be realistic. We can cause more pain than anyone could endure. We will be able to get everything out of you. You can choose the way you want us to....:".

Hogan shook his head: "Robert E. Hogan, Colonel, US Army AirCorps, 0876707.".

Hogan felt someone kicking his ribs, pain everywhere. Someone else hit him hard in the face. More pain, then everything went dark.

Hogan woke up inside his cell. It took a while before he could see clear. When he was finally able to see something, he tried to sit up. At the moment he tried, his eyesight blurred again.

Slowly Robert, slowly.

Breathing hard he finally managed. He walked over to the bed, or the thing that should be classified as bed, because it was just a piece of wood sticking out of the wall.

Then he examined himself. He had a terrible headache, it was as if there was someone inside his head, smashing his brain with a hammer. One of his ribs felt as if they were broken. As he tried to take a deep breath he knew that this was not possible. His whole body was aching, but his attention turned to his right wrist. He tried to turn it, impossible.

Damn Gestapo. They broke my wrist.

He sighed and lowered himself onto the bunk, thinking of his boys in Stalag13. What would they do now? Playing cards? Joking? As he thought of the camp, he saw al the faces passing. Carter, the clumsy chemist, Lebeau the little french cook, Newkirk, the poker player and Kinch, his radio man.

_The Gestapo won´t get anything out of me, I will protect my men even if it will cost my life. _

A small voice in his head said: _Your life? Would you really? Is it all worth it?_

Hogan shook his head. He wanted the voice to go away. _Yes, my life. I couldn´t live with the thought that they died because of me._ Pushing away the thoughts of dying, he tried to sleep.

In barracks two, nobody was sleeping. They were all sitting around the table in the middle of the room. Without Colonel Hogan, it wasn´t the same. Now they felt what it was like to be imprisoned in a prison camp, your friends and family out there, fighting and nothing you could do about it. All of them were thinking of one thing: Colonel Hogans last order: "Don´t wait for me. Run!". Would it really be the last? And that smile he had given them when he went out. Would it have been the last they ever see from him?

In Klinks office, Klink sat behind his chessboard. There was no one there to play with. The bottle of cognac was standing on a shelf, two empty glasses beside it. Klink sighed and then said to himself: _Wilhelm, admit it. You are not sitting here, because you are just bored. There is enough work to do. You sit here, because you miss a friend, a friend who should be your enemy. You should hate him, but you don´t. _

He stared out of the window. Somewhere out there was Hogan and here was Klink, unable to help the man, which he silently considered to be one of the closest friends he had ever had.

Nice one Wilhelm. Your best friend iis your enemy and your countrymen are out there, torturing him to death. Nice thing that patriotism. Nice guys, those Germans.

Klink did not know, that Hogan was thinking exactly the same, trying to get his body into a comfortable position to get some sleep.

The next morning, Hogan was woken up again by a guard. When he opened his eyes and saw the guard he sighed.

Not again........

As the guard guided him along the endless corridors, his legs felt like rubber.

You´re afraid Robert. Admit it, you are afraid of Wachtelschneider, of what he can do to you.

When he stood in front of the desk, facing Wachtelschneider he concentrated on a spot on the wall.

Don´t look at him, don´t answer, just live.

Wachtelschneider spoke: "Hogan, you know what we can do. Now tell us and it will be over soon.".

_He just sounds like my dentist,_ Hogan thought. A faint smile hushed over his lips by this thought. _I just miss the female assistant_, _wouldn´t make such a bad change at all._

Hogan did not answer. He continued to focus on the spot. The next moment, his lip was bleeding, the guard next to him had hit him in the face. Hogan felt his temper rising.

Just one more time and I´ll..........

Again Wachtelschneider asked for information and Hogan did not reply. Again he got hit. Tasting the blood coming out of his lip, he threw away his idea of not talking at all: "Wachtelschneider, enough of this. I don´t have to answer to you due to the Geneva Comvention!".

Wachtelschneider smiled as if Hogan had said something funny. "Oh Colonel, don´t be foolish. The Geneva Convention? Don´t be silly, we´re the Gestapo, we only know the Gestapo Convention.".

The next moment, Hogan found himself on the floor again. The stone floor was nice and cold to his hot face and as the guards unleashed their anger on Hogan, he felt himself drifting away again..........

Again he woke up in the middle of the night. This time, he wasn´t able to get up, due to the pain every movement caused. Giving up the fight, he just stayed on the floor, thinking of his family.

The next morning, the guards came again. Hogan did not realise where they took him. He had focused his mind on something else. His mother, his father, Lebeau, Carter, Kinch, Newkirk, klink, Schultz. All the familiar faces drifted through his mind.

He was woken out of his thougts, when Wachtelschneider spoke to him: "Colonel, this is your last chance. What do you know?". Hogan shook his head: "You will not get anything for me. You can have your fun, torturing me, but you won´t get me. Give up.".

Wachtelschneider shook his head: "You´re a brave man Colonel, but this time, your braveness won´t get you anywhere. Bergmann, go and get Hochstetter!".

Hogan didn´t wonder, he just let everything happen.

When Hochstetter burst into the room, Wachtelschneider said: "Hochstetter, this man won´t tell us anything. It is the best thing, if you just take him to Stalag13 again. He is of no use for the Gestapo. Do whatever you please, but get him out of here.".

Hogan looked at Wachtelschneider, his face wearing an expression of terror. Hochstetter hated him, he wouldn´t let go..........

Hochstetter locked Hogan into his cell again and with a look of pure satisfaction he said: "Don´t make any illusions about coming out of this alive, Hogan. I will have you in front of a firing squad in 48 hours.". And with a terrible laughter, Hochstetter disappeared.


	4. Doubts of a German Colonel

After an hour, the door of Hogans cell was kicked open. Hochstetter stood in the doorway, smiling a devilish smile: "Hogan, get up and turn around!".

Hogan, who understood, that resistance was useless tried to ignore his aching body and slowly walked over to Hochstetter. Then he turned around. Hochstetter took out his handcuffs and handcuffed him.

Hogan nearly protested, because the handcuffs were fixed too tight around his obviously broken wrist, but then he realised it would only be a reason for Hochstetter to put them on even tighter. Biting his lip in anger, he was guided outside to a truck.

"Get up the truck, fast!", Hochstetter ordered, but Hogan knew, he wouldn´t manage without being able to use his hands, but he also realised, that Hochstetter would have him thrown up the truck if he did not try.

With a huge leap, he tried to jump onto the plattform and managed it nearly perfectly. Just the landing went rather bad and so he found himself lying on the floor of the truck again.

The driving seemed to go on for hours, but it could only have been about twenty minutes, befor they reached Stalag 13. The guards, not even asking Hogan to get out just took him and threw him onto the ground.

Klink rushed out of his office, when he saw the Gestapo truck entering the gates. Horrified he looked upon his senior POW, who was lying on the ground and did not make the slightest attempt to move.

"Hochstetter, what have you done to my prisoner? Schultz, take those handcuffs of him and get Rickman. Call the guys from barracks two and tell them to get Colonel Hogan into the barracks, fast!".

Before Schultz could run off, he was stopped by Hochstetter. "Oh no, Schultz, you will not go anywhere. Klink, Hogan is still my prisoner, he will spend the night in solitary confinement and he does not need medical help, because tomorrow, he will be facing a firing squad. It would be useless effort to apply medicine to him.".

Klink was startled and forgetting al his fears for the Gestapo he shouted: "What! Hochstetter, who do you think you are? Are you mad? This man is my prisoner and he will not be shot at any time! Due to the Geneva convention it is-".

Klink was stopped by a sudden outburst of anger from Hochstetter: "Waargh! Klink you silly person! This man is not an ordinary POW, he is a saboteur! And the Geneva convention does not apply to spies! And if I were you, I would shut my big, silly mouth, because you could find yourself at the Russian front very quickly, if you resist the orders of the Gestapo! Guards, take him away!".

Klink intimidated, as usual only murmured a few not understandable words, turned around and headed for his office. Hochstetter looked around, saw Hogan being dragged to the solitary confinement and then ran of to Klinks office as wel.

Kinch, Lebeau, Carter and Newkirk had seen the arrival of Colonel Hogan. As they saw, that he was dragged away, they wondered. Why didn´t they return Hogan to the barracks? As they saw, that Hochstetter and Klink headed for Klinks office, they ran of to fetch the coffee pot.

Klink sighed as he saw, that Hochstetter entered his office. "Hochstetter, what do you want from me?".

Hochstetter took out a piece of paper and threw it onto Klinks desk. "Here Klink, this is the order to shoot Hogan. You must sign this and I will advise you to do so. I will retrieve the paper this afternoon, and if it´s not signed...".

Then he rushed out of the office, leaving Klink alone with his doubts and fears.

_Admit it Wilhelm, you are afraid of the Russian front, you are afraid of dying. But you also want to help Hogan. You understand, it is you or him. If you sign it, you will never be able to look_ _into the mirror again. You will have to live with the idea, that one of your friends died, because you were to afraid to save them. But if you don´t sign it..._

Klink put his head into his hands, not knowing what to do.

Kinch, Carter, Newkirk and Lebeau could not believe what they had heard. Colonel Hogan about to be shot? Hogans life in Klinks hands? Kinch was the first to regain his speech: "Boys, we can´t let Colonel Hogan down, but before we do anything, we must speak to him. Newkirk, go through the tunnel, try to speak to him and Lebeau, go to Klink, try to get some information.".

Newkirk and Lebeau nodded and disappeared.

Hogan sat in the solitary confinement, trying to think of a plan, trying to think about something that might save him, but his head was empty. Then he heard the sound of someone crouching into the cell. He glanced out of the cell and saw Schultz snoring on his rifle. There was no danger of being discovered. Glad to be able to talk to someone, Hogan opened the tunnel entrance entirely and whispered: "Everything´s safe, come in.".

Newkirk crouched inside and sat down next to Hogan. "Colonel, do you know, that Hochstetter wants to shoot you tomorrow morning?".

Hogan nodded silently, then regained his voice and said: "Yes Newkirk, but don´t you lot get involved in this. Keep out, it´s to dangerous, you can´t help me in standing beside me and getting shot as wel.".

Newkirk shook his head, but decided to overhear the last bit of the sentence. "Colonel, did you tell them anything? How did they come to the point to execute you as a saboteur?".

"I did not tell them anything, but you know Hochstetter. Anyway, it wasn´t him, who interrogated me, it was an Obergruppenführer, called Wachtelschneider. At last, when he realised he wouldn´t get any information from me, he called in Hochstetter to do with me as he pleased. But there´s still something I don´t understand. Just after they had taken me back after the last meeting with Wachtelschneider, I heard a guard saying that he had heard Wachtelschneider telling Hochstetter he should not do anything without thinking. I still can´t think about a reason for that. But Newkirk, in a moment the new guards are coming, you need to go back now.".

Newkirk nodded, but before he closed the tunnel entrance, he said: "Colonel, we won´t let you down, we will find a way...".

Hogan shook his head: "Newkirk, really it is not possible. It is over. Continue without me, show them, they haven´t got you, don´t let everything go now, don´t risk your lives for me...".

Hogans voice had become unsteady as he said this, but he gathered the power to continue: "Newkirk, don´t try, this is... an order".

Newkirk could do nothing, to comfort Hogan, he could do nothing to take away his own feelings of pain, that Hogan was right, that they could not do anything. But something in the back of his mind said to him:

_There must be a way. There were so many impossible things you pulled off, it is possible..._

He looked Hogan into the eyes, hoping a look would tell more than a thousand words could ever say and made his way back through the tunnel, which looked darker than it had at any time before.

Meanwhile, Lebeau headed to Klinks office. When he knocked at the door, he was called in by an obviously irritated voice of the Kommandant. When he stood in front of the desk, Klink asked, with his mind obviously somewhere else.

"What do you want?".

"I wanted to talk to you about le colonel, mon commendant. We saw ´im arriving over ´ere just about an hour ago. Why isn´t ´e back in the barracks?".

Klink sighed and said: "He is in the solitary confinement, Hochstetter wants to shoot him next morning and he wants me to sign the order to do so. And now, get out! Dismissed!".

Lebeau realising, that Klink wouldn´t tell anything else headed back towards the barracks.

There they met al together, to discuss their plans. After both Lebeau and Newkirk had telled their story´s, Kinch jumped up.

"We need to go to Klinks office, right now and convince him, that he mustn´t sign the paper. If he doesn´t, Hochstetter can´t shoot Hogan. Come on guys.".

Everybody followed the sergeant, with a slight glimmer of hope.

Klink looked surprised, when he saw the men rushing into his office.

"And what do you want from me? Make it short, I have got enough to worry about!". While he said this, he knew he was being unreasonable. Here in front of his desk, stood the friends of the man, who was awaiting death and he was the man in charge, to decide wether it would happen or not. They had al right in the world, to come and speak to him.

Kinch, being the second leader of the group spoke: "Colonel Klink, we heard about the order to shoot Colonel Hogan and we also heard about the order, you have to sign. We come to ask you to shred the paper, please don´t think about giving Hogan to those Gestapo bastards. He is not an ordinary Colonel, he is our friend as well."

Klink nodded. _You don´t know, how close you are to my thoughts. I agree with every point, but there is Hochstetter..._

"Sergeant you must understand, that I don´t want this to happen either, but there is the Gestapo... I- Oh I just need time to think. Dismissed!".

As the friends moved out, they knew, that if it was for Klink, the shooting would not happen, but the Gestapo. They needed to wait now and pray.

Klink meanwhile was fighting his feelings of fear, anger and helplesness.

_Klink, if it were you, waiting in the solitary confinement and Hogan was in your place, what would he do? I know it, he would not sit around helpless, waiting for someone to solve the problem for him, he would take action._

_Wilhelm, do you remember the time, when you were about to be shot, after the Gestapo was convinced you had commited treason? And Hogan showing up with his plan, to form a suicide squad with Carter as a German general? And how you and the men from Barracks two were sent to the Russian front and Hogans men taking over the train, bringing you back safely and cleaning up the general who had caused al the problems? Do you remember how they risked their lives for you?_

Drifting away in doubts and feelings of guilt, Klink sat in his office, thinking.


	5. Rise and Fall

I´m sorry that it took me so long to write a new chapter, but I have been quite busy lately. Hope you enjoy it anyway :-)

* * *

Klink walked over to the photograph on the wall. Hitler, standing in front of a massive amount of people, shouting one of his famous speeches. Disgusted, Klink turned away. It was him, that person who was causing him al this trouble. 

_It is your duty to the Fatherland to sign the paper, if Hogan is really a saboteur... and you know he is Wilhelm, don´t deny it any longer. There are things going on of which you not know, but you can feel it. There is to much coincidence between the recent events. Since Hogan came intot the camp, sabotage numbers in this area have more than doubled and how do you explain things like Hogan always knowing when something is going to be blown up? Because he IS the saboteur._

Klink sighed. He knew more about Hogan, than Hogan would think in his wildest dreams, but on the other hand, Hogan was Klinks only way to survive the war and not ending up at the Russian front. A second later, Klinks face brightened as an interesting thought trickled into his mind.

_If I do not sign the permission for execution, Hogan is not going to be executed. If he isn´t shot, he can protect me from Hochstetter, as he has done before._

Besides this obvious self-interest in Hogans life, Klink also knew, that there was more in this thinking than self preservation.

_It is my duty to save him, not my duty to the Fatherland, but my duty to a friend, to myself. Besides that, the Fatherland as it is now is not Germany, it is not the Germany I loved and to which I was devoted in the First World War. Come on Wilhelm, fight Hochtsetter, because Germany´s got a war to lose._

He smiled at this thought, but he suddenly realised the meaning of this words: treason. He, as a proud German officer should fight for his country and help them to win the war and yet he wished to lose the war.

_How strange it is, to win a war. There is nothing to win in a war, just tears and pain, so much to lose, so little to gain. Is Germany worth fighting for?_

The moment he looked at the person entering the room he knew the answer: No, this Germany is not worth anything, leats of all fighting for.

Hochstetter rushed in, his head wearing a reddish color.

"Klink, I haven´t got time, where´s the permission for execution?". Turning pale, Klink handed over the form. In his head he counted, one... two... thr-

"AAAAAARGH! Klink, why didn´t you sign this paper!"

Meanwhile, in Barracks two, Kinch, Carter, Lebeau and Newkirk were seated around the coffee pot, eager to hear what Hochstetter would say if he found out, that Klink had not signed the paper.

"Hochstetter, I want you to know, that you are not going to shoot any of my prisoners and least of all my senior POW. I believe, that he is not guilty and therefore, I will not accep-".

"Klink, you silly person. You will sign this paper, Hogan is a saboteur, a spy, a danger to the Third Reich! You are abandoning the Fatherland by defending this inferior person! This is treason. The Führer will hear of this and you will find yourself in front of a firing squad side by side to your little allied friend.".

Hochstetters face had turned deep purple during this speech, now, speechless with anger and breathing hard he faced Klink and pushed the form into his hands.

"Klink, I will give you one last chance to rewind the biggest mistake in your life. One last chance...".

The last words echoed in Klinks head, but he couldn´t get himself to sign the paper.

Wilhelm, you have done the first step, now don´t take a step back, go forward, show him who you are.

He shook his head. "No, Hochstetter, I am not going to sign this paper. This is my last word."

Surprisingly Hochstetter went away without a word. Klink, relieved that he had managed to stand the Gestapo for one time sighed and sat behind his desk. Then it finally dawned on him what he had done.

_Wilhelm, you did it! You stood up against the Gestapo, the almost allmighty police apparatus to save an allied flyer. Isn´t that suspicious?_

He shook his head. The fear of the last hours had vanished and for once he was sure to have done the right thing. Was it like this to be brave?

"He did it! He really did it! He saved the colonel!". Carter was jumping around Barracks 2, out of his mind with joy.

"Ol´fella don´ get satisfied that easy. Ya think this was everything ol´ Wolfgang had up his sleeve? He´ll have some tricks behind.".

Then, Newkirk laughed out loud, because Carter had frozen in mid-air and thereby had fallen over one of the beds.

"Mon Dieu, Newkirk. C´est quoi ca? It´s not nice to tease Carter like this. Don´t mind Carter, ´e was just jokin´weren´t you.".

Newkirk grinned. "Of course I was, Wolffie can´t do anythin´ he hasn´t got that form, he hasn´t got any proff besides what stupid ol´ Crittendon told ´im. And that´s no proof, because the man is out of ´is mind, anybody could see that by just bein´ in one room with ´im for a minute.".

The only one who had not spoken was Kinch, because he was looking out of the window, to make sure Hochstetter was leaving. When Hochstetter did not come out immediatly after he ended his talk with Klink, he grew suspicious.

"Newkirk, fast. Run down to Klinks office and listen carefully. I think Hochstetter is having a chat with Klinks secretary and I don´t think he´s just flirting with her, ´cause she loaths him. Come on, quick.".

Lebeau and Carter looked at Kinch, not understanding Kinchs concern, but Newkirk rushed out, without a word.

Slowly he strolled over to the Kommandant´s office and reached the window, just in time to hear Hochstetter shouting at Klinks Secretary.

"Give me something Klink has signed, quick!". Newkirk heard Klinks Secretary protest, but an angry growl from Hochstetter ended al protest. He heard paper rustling and then Hochstetter laughing. "Haha, that stupid idiot Klink thinks he´s a smart one and can protect this little Hogan friend of his. Idiot.".

Just in time, Newkirk stepped away from the window, because Hochstetter was rushing outside. While he rushed past, Newkirk looked at the form in his hands. On the bottom, there was Klinks signature, a false signature, but still a false signature which looked like Klinks.

Newkirk could do nothing but stare at Hochstetter, who felt the gaze and turned around. He smiled, but it was not a pleasant smile. It was a cold and devilish smile, a smile in which lay hatred and satisfaction at one time. Newkirk could not turn away. It seemed like hours, before Hochstetter turned around and walked away and Newkirk could do nothing to stop him. The form moved in the autumn wind.

White, a white piece of paper. How could the color of pureness bear something so unjust? Was it possible that one of the bravest men Newkirk knew was about to die due to betrayal and an old hatred? There was more behind Hochstetters desire to shoot Hogan than just the suspicion that Hogan was a saboteur. It was the old hatred of a man, who knew that he would never be able to even stand in the shadow of Colonel Hogan. A man, who knew that he was nothing, compared to his enemy. And a man, who had realised this in his never ending fight against that enemy, against whom he would never stand a chance, when playing the game without breaking the rules of fairness (besides, were there any rules in war?). Why? Because Hochstetter was alone and Colonel Hogan had men behind him, who would risk their lives for him at any time. Hochstetter had nothing but hatred, Hogan had friends.

Newkirk watched the sky. It was blue, deep blue, no clouds, just blue. And birds, birds in the trees in the sky, singing as if nothing had happened as if the world had not turned three years ago, as if no human species had ever arisen.

_We rose, our species rose from animal to yet nothing more but a different animal. A dangerous animal by al means, with the power to kill the entire species, the power to destroy everything once made by our ancestors, a destructive and evil power. And yet, we could turn the tide and rise far beyond the horizon we reached a time ago. The horizon, which is about to be our fall. We rose and we will fall, yes, fall. And fail to be, another species under the sun. May in the dark hour of our fall the birds sing as they do now, for then I will know, that we were nothing and nothing more than we have been._


	6. Perhance to Plan

As for always, no ownership of Hogans Heroes is implied. Thanks to you all for writing such inspiring reviews, whith some good tips as well, thanks a lot! Because there´s no school these weeks (Easter Holiday :-) ) I have been able to write another chapter quite fast, hope you enjoy it :-)

In the first chapter I wrote, that this story was a translation of another story, however while translating, I changed the story a bit and also the thoughts of people, especially in chapter 4 and 5 are not the same as in my original story, but the story line is mostly the same, however if you´re interested in the original just send an e-mail to the e-mailadress in my bio. (I somehow can´t post it here, strange...)

* * *

When Newkirk came back into Barracks two, he found it difficult to tell what he had just witnessed. He couldn´t spoil the hope, which had arisen in the last hour, after they had found out that Klink had put his fear aside. Something inside him had taken away his speech, but at the sight of Kinch, he knew that the radio-man had guessed what he knew to be reality. 

"What do we do now?", Kinchs voice broke into the silence. Carter and LeBeau looked at him, not jet understanding why Kinch was asking.

Newkirk sat down at the table, still not speaking and with a violent crack, he smashed his fist on the table, as to release his anger and fear.

"Newkirk, what are you doing, what is this all about? Why aren´t you telling us what happened, I don´t understand!",

Carters shrieking voice echoed into the silence, which had fallen upon Barracks two. Newkirk shook his head, numb.

"Oui, Newkirk, tell what ´appened, mon ami. I can´t stand this! W´at ´appened?".

LeBeau joined in, eager to know what this was all about, because everything was better than waiting for what to come. Knowing the most dreadful thing was even better than not knowing anything.

Newkirk took a deep breath. "Ya´all thought that Wolffie ´ad given up? Now that´s not the case at all. When I arrived at the window I ´eard ´im shouting at Klinks secretary. That jolly bastard imitated Klinks signature and now ´e ´as a signed execution paper! Need I to say more?".

Startled, Carter and LeBeau shook their heads simultaneously.

"So again, the important question, what are we goin´ to do now?".

"Take away that paper, from le filthy Boche!", "Blow Hochstetter up!", shouted LeBeau and Carter at the same time, so that nobody understood a single word.

"Quiet boys", interrupted Kinch "Now, one by one, has anybody got a plausible plan?".

"Let´s snatch the paper from le Boche!", LeBeau cried, but the others shook their heads.

"Ol´ fella, do ya really think Wolffie is carryin´ the paper with himself? He drove off to Gestapo Headquarters and there he will put it somewhere in a safe or somethin´. We won´t be able to find out where he´s got that.".

"And what do you think we can do? Le Colonél is in trouble, they will shoot ´im if we do nothing! At leats we can try, we dress up like Boches, walk into Gestapo ´eadquarters and try to find the paper, nothing more easy than that!".

Now Carter joined into the conversation. "But Hochstetter and his man will not hand the paper over to us. They will suspect, that somebody is after the paper to try and save the Colonel.".

But even to this, LeBeau had an answer: "And what if we just come in with some high ranked officer, who wants to inspect the whereabouts of the Gestapo? We tell them, that we ´eard of the execution and want to see if everything is legal. When ´e ´ands us the paper, we take out our guns, overpower them, tie them up and run away.".

Newkirk shook his head. "Get hold of some Gestapo officers in the middle of Gestapo ´eadquarters? Fella, I think sonethin´ ´as fallen onto your ´ead and damaged your brains, we are not supermen! They will ´ave us in a second.".

LeBeau finally admitted, that his plan was not going to work, but still he was not convinced about the thought that they weren´t able to do anything.

"Mais oui, but what are we going to do then? Just sit on our arses, watching le Colonèl being executed right in front of our very eyes?".

Carter, eager to drop in with a plan and do something useful said: "What if we walked into Gestapo headquarters, placed a bomb in there and blew up the whole thing?".

Even though the situation was everything else then funny, Newkirk laughed out loud.

"Blowin´ up Gestapo Headquarters? You serious? You know what they´ll do? You did not ´ear that story about the reprisals of the Germans every time even a single German gets assasinated by the underground? What will ´appen if we blow a whole building full of Germans? And besides, what is it goin´ to help?".

"Well, if Hochstetter is dead and everything is destroyed the Gestapo will have other things on their mind than to kill Colonel Hogan.".

"And you know ´ow many people will die in ´is place? The Germans will come and take away all the people they suspect to be underground members and take them away to concentration camps or shoot them right here. For the life of one person, ´undreds of people will die!".

Carter flushed and did not say anything, for he realised the foollishness in his idea.

Then Newkirk came up with another idea. "What if we kidnap a ´igh ranked officer and exchange ´im for the gov´nor?".

"Mon Dieu, that´s rubbish! ´ow are we going to do that? ´ow are we going to kidnap ´im? Where are we going to keep ´im? There is no way that will work, without risking the whole operation.".

Then Newkirk and Carter joined in again. "Who cares! Whats that bloody operation compared to Colonel Hogan? We are not going to let him be shot when we can do anything!".

"Stop it! Right now!". Kinch shouted, his voice louder than he had intended. Everybody froze. Kinch never shouted, never even raised his voice. What could have made him angry?

"First of all, al these plans are rubbish. They can not be carried out without putting the lives of so many men at risk, while they have little chance of succes. Newkirk, that plan of yours is silly, it would mean the end of the operation, with a very high risk of being discovered, before Colonel Hogan would be free. Carter, your idea is absolute foolish, even if it worked, the Colonel would have our heads, because we had sacrificed hundreds of men for saving him, he couldn´t live with himself and besides it is to dangerous. Louis, I agree with Newkirk, it is no use searching the whole Gestapo Headquarters for a single piece of paper, but what can we do? But please, think before you speak, because al these plans lead us to nothing, we need one solid idea, just one.".

"Well fella, why don´t we just call up the Gestapo goons and tell ´em to set the gov´nor free? Nothin´ to lose i s´ppose?". Allthough the situation wasn´t really suitable for jokes, Newkirk couldn´t resist the temptation to poke a bit of fun at Kinch.

For a moment, Kinch gazed at Newkirk, unsure wether to get angry or not. Then an idea flipped into his mind. "Newkirk you´ve got it! That´s it!". And he parted out of the room.

Newkirk looked at LeBeau and Carter in amazement. "What did I actually say?".

"Well, mon ami, you told, that we should phone up the Gestapo ´eadquarters and tell them to set le Colonèl free.".

Newkirk shook his head. "´e ´as gone nuts I believe. Following the gov´nors example about having impossible plans...".

Carter giggled, then realised, that there was nothing worth giggling and became silent again.

Then he said: "Mind though that the Colonels plans, allthough quite nutty at times always worked, maybe Kinch´s got the hang of it to. At least it´s better than doing nothing, I´m in, whatever the plan may be.".

LeBeau nodded: "Oui, me as well.".

Newkirk grinned: "And so am I. Don´ mind if Kinchs gone nuts, maybe the fella´s got a plan worth trying, and it can´t be worse than our plans. So lets get goin´ and hear about that plan of his.".

But the plan Kinch unfolded made their mouths fall open in amazement. Was this possible?


	7. Are you nuts?

"Well Newkirk, your plan of phoning up one of the Gestapo goons made me get this idea. It is quite simple, but yet difficult to carry out. However, I think it is the best way we can save Colonel Hogan, without putting anyone besides us at risk. And-".

"Oh Kinch, mon Dieu, stop that useless talk, just come to the point.".

Kinch nodded and said: "Okay, the only things on which our plan depends is Klinks good will, his courage and the time to carry out the plan.".

Again, he was interrupted, this time by Newkirk: "You call that nothin´ ? We depend on Klinks courage? Man, I think I´ll shoot myself beforehand, ´cause it will end in that way anyway.".

Now Kinch got angry: "Can you lot shut up for one time! I try to explain a plan to you lot to save Colonel Hogan and all you do is interrupting me and throwing away the plan before you have even heard it. Now, do we want to save the Colonel?".

Everybody nodded in agreement and Kinch continued, this time uninterrupted.

"I thought, we need to talk to Klink first. We need to convince him, that he needs to phone up the Gestapo and speak to that Obergrüppenführer that interrogated the Colonel. Do you lot rmemeber Colonel Hogan told us that wachtelschneider had said to Hochstetter he should think well before doing anything? I think that that was his way of saying not to do anything illegal or something like that. I don´t think it was just a loose warning, because if it would have been for that, they would have shot the Colonel right away. Now, we make Klink to phone up and tell Wachtelschneider about the latest events and the suspicion that Hochstetter imitated Klinks signature to shoot an maybe innocent prisoner of war. On its own accord, Wachtelschneider won´t do anything to this I think, but we will put some pressure on him. We will phone him up, about an hour after he has spoken to Klink. Carter, you will do this, you will play General von Kattenscheit, who is about to inspect the whereabouts of the Gestapo by order of the Führer. You will say, that this needs to be done, because the Führer suspects inspections from the Red Cross and wants everything to be perfectly managed and legal. This will put the required pressure on Wachtelschneider to check on Hochstetter. Once he comes here, he will check on Hochstetter and find out, through Klink, that Hochstetter has manipulated the form. Then of course, Hochstetter will come up with his evidence and that klink has been foolish not to see the evidence and he will picture Klink as a traitor, to whom he could do nothing but betray him in order to put justice upon a spy. –".

Newkirk could not hold back a comment at this: "Yes, and what are we gonna do then? He has got the evidence of that Crittendon fool. Are we gonna nick the tapes from Hochstetter? He´ll know in a second that we´re involved and get us as well, that won´t help the gov´nor. Besides, before Hochstetter can shoot us, Colonel Hogan will kill us, for disobeying his order to not get involved in this.".

Kinch shook his head. "Newkirk, I hadn´t finished, I also thought about these things. Well, about an hour after von Kattenscheit has spoken to Wachtelschneider, he will phone up again, telling that he will also inspect the POW camps in this region. this will put even more pressure on Wachtelschneider. Then, von Kattenscheit, yes you Carter, will set of to Stalag 6, where Crittendon is held. Then he will announce himself as being an inspector. This all will be perfectly legal, for he has informed the Gestapo in this area and he will have official orders from Berlin with him, Newkirk, you are going to make them, just sign them with Heinrich Himmler or something. I myself will control all phone calls, coming out of Gestapo Headquarters, to intercept all calls, which might be used to ask the people in Berlin about von Kattenscheit. Well, that is settled. As for the proves Hochstetter has got, we will do as follows. First, von Kattenscheit, in Stalag 6 will have another interview with Crittendon, say that you want to talk with the senior POW to get a picture of how the camp is run. Carter, I need you to do this without the presence of the camp commander, for you will need to imitate Hochstetters voice. Okay, you will inform Crittendon of the situation and tell him to act as if he is interrogated again. We will make a tape recording of this. Of course, Crittendon won´t make any confessions, but we´lll make a tape stuffed with nonsense. Then, von Kattenscheit can move away from the camp.".

Kinch stopped for a moment and watched the faces of his friends. None of them seemed really excited, but he decided to continue.

"Once we´ve got the fake evidence ready, Carter as von Kattenscheit will turn up here and have a chat with Klink. We´ll make sure that Klink tells about Hogan about to be shot. Then, von Kattenscheit will ask for more information, which he will get of course from Klink. Then von Kattenscheit can leave again. The car for this undertaking will be provided by the local underground, I just talked to them on the radio. Once Carter leaves, he will leave the car on the road near Hammelburg, from where he will return on foot. When he´s back, we will phone up Wachtelschneider again, informing him of Hogans case and Hochstetters betrayal. I suppose this will be enough to get Wachtelschneider into action. Von Kattenscheit will order him to go and visit Klink to get the entire story and then to check Hochstetters evidence. This is where the most difficult part of the plan comes in. Newkirk, as soon as Hochstetter arrives, we need to find out where he keeps the tapes. Then we need to exchange them with ours and that´s it. What do you say?".

Three faces watched him in amazement. Finally Newkirk spoke the words all three of them thought.

"Are you out of your mind?"


	8. Preparations and Problems

Because this chapter contains quite a lot of jumps between Klinks office and Barracks two, I labeled them to avoid confusion. Again, much thanks for the reviews and enjoy reading :-)

* * *

**  
**

**Barracks two**

Kinch shook his head, smiling. "No, I´m not mad I think this is going to work. Anyway, this mission will be completely voluntarily, so if anyone thinks this is to dangerous, he may stay here and no one will get angry at him. It is not your duty to put your lives at risk.-".

"Mais Kinch, of course we´re in, aren´t we mes amis?"

Carter and Newkirk smiled, nodded and then Carter said. "It sounds like a plan of Colonel Hogan and they always worked, so why shouldn´t this one? It´s so nuts that even the Gestapo would not suspect us to do this.".

Kinch smiled. "All right, I knew I could count on you all, let´s get started. Newkirk, go and make some orders from Berlin ready for Carter. LeBeau, find a suitable uniform for Carter. I will make radio contact with the underground to make sure the car is at the right place."

It was only ten minutes after Kinch had finished explaining his plan, that their preparations were interrupted by a black car coming through the entrance gate, Hochstetter had returned.

Olsen came running into the tunnel. "Kinch, fast Hochstetter has come to talk to Klink".

Without further talking, Kinch nodded and ran of to get the coffee pot. All of them gathered around, for Hochstetters visit might hold something that would either be the downfall or the guarantee of succes for their plan.

"Klink! I am here to tell you, that I have got the signed form. I have arranged everything. Hogan will by shot the day after tomorrow at 9.00 am. Make sure he has got a happy time ´till then in the cooler. Hahaha. I will have my guards guarding him from now on, to make sure he will not escape. Remove your guards from the cooler and let them guard the fence to make sure no other prisoners escape. That´s everything. Heil Hogan... Ehm I mean Heil Hitler.".

Klink sat behind his desk, not knowing what to do. How had Hochstetter got his signature? How was this possible?

Kinch exchanged worried looks with the others. "The day after tomorrow 9 o´clock in the morning. It´s now 5.00 pm. We haven´t got much time and the extra guards at the fence won´t make things easier. What if they check on us, while Carter is away and he is missing? How do we get him out safely?".

Newkirk placed his hand on Kinchs shoulder. "No worries mate, everythin´ will turn out to be fine.".

Then he turned his head to the window and said: "Hey, Hochstetter´s comin´ back, he´s runnin´ into Klinks office again.".

"Vite, turn on le coffeepot!".

**Klinks Office**

"Klink, I have changed my mind. Your guards, who will not guard the cooler anymore will guard the prisoners inside the Barracks. It is up to you, to assign them to different Barracks, but I want one inside every single one.". Then Hochstetter hurried away again, not even taking time to shout the _Hitlergruss_.

Klink sighed. Why does this guy always cause trouble?

_Why is he always running around, trying to prove that my prisoners are spies?_

**Barracks two**_  
_

"Wow, great and what are we going to do now? With one of the guards here we can´t afford to run around outside the camp.". Carter sighed, he did not know how this should work. Even the optimistic Kinch did not speak.

After a time, Kinch thrust his fist onto the table. "I´ve got it, I think, but it will increase the danger involved in this plan. We need to convince Klink, that Schultz has to guard us. With Schultz here, we can do as we please.".

"Yeah but what if Klink puts up Schmidt or one of the others. We won´t have a chance then.".

"That´s what causing me difficulty as well, but let´s try and convince Klink, maybe we´re lucky for a change.".

With these words, Kinch headed to the Kommandants office, leaving behind his three worried friends.

**Klinks office**

"Kommandant, can I speak to you for a moment?". Kinch was standing in front of Klink, who did not answer, he was to absorbed in his thoughts. Kinch tried once more.

"Kommandant, can I have a quick word with you?".

Klink looked at him for a moment as if he was returning from another world and then said: "Yes, sergeant, but make it quick I have other things to worry about.".

"Well Kommandant, we want to protest against the behaviour of your guards, specially Schultz. He is always on us, we can´t take a step towards the fence or he gets us, we can´t do anything when he is around, even when we are doing something what we used to do every day. He controls everything, it sinks the moral Herr Kommandant.".

Klinks eyes started to glim. His greatest worry had been, that one of the Hogan guys as he called them would do something stupid to try and save their Colonel. Now Schultz seemed to be in complete control of them. He smiled.

"Sergeant, I will not have you question the behaviour of my guards. I think Schultz is doing an excellent job.".

"Herr Kommandant, it will not happen again, but I have got another question. What is going to happen to Colonel Hogan?".

Klink sighed. He had dreaded this question more than any other and especially he dreaded to answer it to Hogans closest friend, but he realised that he had to.

"Sergeant, Colonel Hogan is going to be executed the day after tomorrow by order from Major Hochstetter.".

Kicnh tried to look as if he heard the news for the very first time and looking at Klinks reaction, he felt he had succeeded.

"But- but- Herr Kommandant, can´t you do anything?".

"Sergeant I know this is difficult for you and it is so for me as well, but my hands are tied, the Gestapo has got more power than I have.".

"Herr Kommandant, we heard about that execution form you had to sign. Did you do so?".

Klink shook his head. "No, but Hochstetter falsified my signature.".

_Why am I telling this to a prisoner? What should I care if he thought it was me condemning Colonel Hogan? _The answer came from a little voice at the back of his head. _Because you know it is not right what is happening and you don´t want to be associated with this._

Kinch continued. "But Kommandant, what if you called up the person who interrogated Colonel Hogan? You don´t even know if Hogan has confessed anything that has led to this death penalty. Maybe you should ask for more information.".

Klink was beginning to get unnerved by the provoking look that Kinch had put on him, but at the same time he knew it was Kinchs right to be upset and to bid for action from Klinks side.

By all means, it is not a bad idea he is offering me. At least I will know if Hogan is guilty or not.

He nodded and said to kinch. "I will, sergeant and now, dismissed.".

Kicnh went out and when he was closing the door behind him, he heard Klink shouting: "Hilda, call Sergeant Schultz for me.". Smiling, Kinch went back and sat beneath the other around the coffee pot.

**Barracks two

* * *

**

"Schultz, I have heard excellent things of you and I think I should honour this by giving you the chance to show what a great guard you are. Hochstetter has placed an order to guard all Barracks and I think you should be assigned to Barracks two. See it as an honour to serve the Fatherland in this way. Dismissed.". Had our Heroes seen the startled look on Schultzes face, they would have roared with laughter. The poor sergeant knew very well what a though job it was to guard them. But trying to make himself more at ease with the idea he assured himself, that without Colonel Hogan they would not feel the desire to cause him any trouble.

Then they heard Klink shouting for Hilda. "Hilda, give me Obergruppenführer Wachtelschneider on the phone!".

A moment later, the heroes could hear the following conversation. Kinch and Carter, who knew German quite well translated for Newkirk and LeBeau.

"Heil Hitler, Herr Obergruppenführer. This is Kommandant Klink from Stalag 13. You know, the one with the record. No one has ever escaped from Stalag 13. I need some informations from you, about the interrogations of a Colonel Hogan, the senior POW in my camp.".

A few minutes, nothing could be heard, then Klink spoke again.

"So no confessions, absolutely nothing? Well, then I must protest against Major Hochstetter. He has condemned Colonel Hoagn to death for sabotage and spionage, but as there is no proof...".

"What do you say? Oh, the execution permission. He gave it to me to sign, but I did not, because I was not convinced.".

"How can Hochstetter shoot him then? Well, he imitated my signature. I must protest against this. Yes, you will investigate. Heil Hitler Herr Obergruppenführer.".

Kinch looked very satisfied. "Okay that´s the first problem solved, now continue with the preparations, Carter, I need you to make the phone call to Wachtelschneider in a minute.".


	9. Hold the Hochstetter

Barracks Two 

Kinch and Carter got down into the tunnle, where they sat down beneath the telephone. Kinch saw that Carters hands were trembling slightly and asked gently: "Carter, are you nervous?".

Carter nodded. "I´m afraid to mess things up. I´ve messed up a lot of things in the past and I just feel as if this is going to be another mess of mine.".

Kinch placed his hand upon Carters shoulder. "Andrew, you do not need to be afraid. I am sure you will do everything fine. We trust you.".

Carter smiled thankfully and then took hold of the telephone. Kinch made contact with the Gestapo Headquarters.

Kicnh gave Carter the thumbs up and then Carter got a secretary on the telephone. After a while, he finally caught Wachtelschneider on the phone.

"Heil Hitler, you are speaking to General von Kattenscheit. I need to inform you, that I am here to inspect the whereabouts of the Gestapo by orders of our beloved Führer. The Führer suspects inspections from the Red Cross and wants everything to be perfectly legal. Therefore I will inform myself about this region and the actions of the Gestapo in the last months.".

Kinch waited, while Carter listened carefully to Wachtelschneiders reply.

Then Carter said: "Yes, Herr Obergruppenführer, as you assume, I will also visit the POW camps in this region and inform myself about the way they function and the circumstances in which the prisoners are kept. You will keep in touch? Very well, Heil Hitler Herr Obergruppenführer.".

Carter put down the phone and sighed with relief. "Ok that´s it. He himself made the suggestion that I should visit the POW camps, so that´s out of the way as well.".

Kinch nodded, thought for a moment and then wanted to say something, when Newkirk rushed down into the tunnel.

"Fellas, one of us must go through the tunnel to the solitary confinement and take place in our little guard post. Hochstetter has arrived again and is headin´ for the solitary confinement.".

Kinch looked at him and made a fast decision. "I will go. Newkirk, go on with the papers, we need to get them ready as soon as possible. Carter, go to LeBeau and see if he has got the uniform ready.".

Without a word the two disappeared and Kinch, worried made his way to their watch post.

**Solitary Confinement**

"Hogan, there you are, my friend.". With a sarcastic smile, Hochstetters face appeared at the small opening in the cell door. Hogan tried to ignore him, he was not in need of more trouble and least of all he wanted to provoke Hochstetter.

Hochstetter however wanted to have some fun with his prisoner, which he regarded as a finally defeated enemy.

"And Colonel, now your little tricks do not work, don´t they? Aren´t your friends trying to save you? You should see yourself, here in the darkness, awaiting a firing squad and nobody´s there to save you. Nice friends they are, surely. They don´t even try to see you, they don´t try to save you, after everything you´ve done for them. Pityful isn´t it?".

Hogan couldn´t stand Hochstetters words any longer. He knew, that Hochstetter was not right, he knew, that his friends hadn´t forgotten him and that they certainly had not abandoned him. The only thing they were doing was to obey his last orders, nothing else and that meant to him, that they respected his orders and thereby respected his person. Hochstetter was only here to make him give up, to go into death as a broken man. Nothing would satify Hochstetter more as to see his enemy broken. No, he would not get that satisfaction.

Coolly, he looked at Hochstetter, but did not reply. Hochstetter, thinking Hogan was driving of into melancholy decided to put on something extra.

"You know what? Even your own army and government are letting you down. They are not making any progress, your liberty will never come, because the Third Reich will last for thousands of years. And do you know why? Because we are the _Herrenrasse_.".

Hogan could not hold back a comment. "_Herrenrasse_? You? I think you have got nothing somebody of Hitlers beloved _Rasse_ should have. You´re small, black haired, brown eyes. And your fancy Führer? He´s exactly the opposite as what he thinks to be the _Herrenrasse_. Let him make up his mind and look into the mirror, because he gives way to his fancy thoughts.".

Hochstetter turned purple. In fact, Hogan had touched a tender spot in Hochstetters ego. "Hogan! You fool. You have got no idea, but I wil, teach you the right ideas. Heinrich, Hans, come here!".

During the entire conversation, Kinch had been sitting in the watch post, which was, if you did not know its position, completely invisible. With horror, he realised what Hochstetter intended to do. What he was about to start would certainly not be a fair fight. He had to do something. Without thinking anymore, he rushed out of the tunnel. He needed to inform Klink, he needed to save the Colonel.

While Kinch was running of to get Klink, Hochstetter called in his goons.

"Heinrich, Hans. Have you heard what this inferiour American said about the _Herrenrasse_ and about the Führer? Let´s make him aware of the Führers power!".

Hogan jumped to his feet. Allthough there were three of them, he could at least defend himself. He retreated back into the corner, because from ther he would at least have cover from behind.

Hans en Heinrich jumped at Hogan at the same time, but the Colonel had learned how to fight. But after a few seconds, he realised, that this was no fight to see who was the best fighter, it was a fight to cause him pain and suffering.

While Hogan was wrestling with Heinrich, Hans got out his handcuffs and grabbed Hogan at the arm. Hogan tried to get away from his grip, but Hochstetter intervened, by punching him into the face. While Heinrich tilted his arms together and secured them with the handcuffs, he felt blood trickle down the right side of his face. He had no time to check on his injuries, because Hans kicked him in the stomach. Gasping, he rolled onto the ground, trying to protect his head and stomach from the blows and kicks. He cried out in pain, as one of the guards hit his right wrist. A memory flashed into his head. Wachtelschneiders guards had broken it during interrogation.

Now he had only his left arm to protect him. Hochstetter, realising, that Hogans wrist wasn´t entirely okay made a game of it to try wether he could hit him there again and again, whereas the two guards tried to pull at the handcuffs so Hogan would have to give up his protection. A hard kick against his head, and Hogan slipped into unconsciousness. It might had been a dream, but he imagined that before he finally lost consciousness he heard Kinch shouting, but he was not sure.

Kinch however was sure. He thought he had never ran so fast as he had done just now. Without a word to Klinks secretary, he had bursted into Klinks office, explaining in a few words what they had observed from the Barracks window. That Hochstetter had come back and had gone into the solitary. Klink, seriously disturbed at the thought that Hochstetter was interrogating his prisoner without any word to him, Klink, the Kommandant, followed Kinch.

When they arrived at Hogans cell, they could only see Hochstetter and his guards beating someone. Kinch, knowing it had to be Colonel Hogan shouted: "Stop it!".

Hochstetter looked at Hogan, noticed that he was unconscious now and decided to turn his attention to Klink and the other man. To his guards he made an uncaring handmovement. Upon this, they took Hogan and threw him onto the bed. Then they stood behind Hochstetter.

Hochstetter turned toward Kinch. "And who are you, American, that you dare to interrupt me during interrogation? You, a black, American sergeant?".

"I´m sergeant Kinchloe, U.S. Army Aircorps and I must protest due to the Geneva Conven-"-

He was cut off by Klink, who did not want another POW being inprisoned.

"Hochstetter, what are you doing in my camp without permission? What are you doing here, without first informing the Kommandant? What are you doing to that prisoner?".

During Klinks argument with Hochstetter, Kinch slowly walked towards Hogan, who lay, unconscious on the bunk. However, as Kinch sat down beside him, he moved and opened his eyes a little. "Kinch?"

"Yes Colonel, I am here.".

Hogan smiled a faint smile and said. "Then everything is ... all... right" and he became unconscious again.

Kicnhs stood up and walked towards the two arguing Germans. "Kommandant, i´m sorry to interrupt you, but you need to send the camp medic to look after Colonel Hogan.".

Klink nodded and turned towards Hochstetter. "Hochstetter, it is time for you to leave now. Otherwise I must inform the Gestapo Headquartes of your behaviour towards an higher ranked officer.".

Hochstetter growled, but moved away. The guards however remained, to guard Hogan.

Kinch turned to Klink. "Kommandant, could you please make sure that the camp medic sees Colonel Hogan, I just watched him and I don´t think he looks very well. They were quite rough with him.". Kinch chose his words carefully, but he wanted to shout at Klink, that he should get the camp medic and end this, end Hogans imprisonment, end the threat upon Hogans life, end Hochstetters visits, just end...

Klink nodded. "I´ll sent Rickman and I´ll tell the guards that he is in need of an assistant, so you could join him, I think Hogan needs this.".

"Thanks Kommandant.". Kinch could only wonder. Klink had changed during the last few days, he showed interest in human life, he cared for his prisoners.

_Maybe the view I had of him is not right at all, maybe he is a good person._

Half an hour alter, Rickman and Kinch entered the cell. They noticed however, that one of the guards had opened the small window in the door, to listen at their conversation.

Slowly and carefully, Kinch approached Hogan. He did want to see if the officer was asleep or still unconscious. However, as he stood beside the bunk, Hogan opened his eyes and tried to sit up. Rubbing his head, he said with a faint smile: "Hi Kinch, what are you doing here, not visiting me for long, I hope?".

Allthough this answer could be taken the bad way, Kinch knew it was not meant like that. Hogan wanted to make sure, that Kinch was only here for a visit, not for imprisonment.

"No, sir. I just brought another visitor, you look as if you would need him.".

Hogan turned his attention on Rickman. "Aha, docter´s here again? Telling me I should take care of myself and not overdo anything? Sorry doc, but at the moment that´s out of my hands.". Again he tried a smile, but grimaced as a sharp pain shot through his head.

Rubbing his head, he said: "Damn, who was so eager to see my brain, that he tried to smash my skull?".

Kinch and Rickman smiled, obviously Hogans humour had returned, but Rickman felt the need for action, because the Gestapo guards had only allowed them a short time.

"Now Colonel, enough joking and enough of your stubborness, how are you feeling?".

"Fine, except a truck ran over me.".

"Ok, I´ll take that as a "I do not feel so well". There´s dried blood on your face, let me take a look at your head.".

Growling, Hogan shifted on his bunk, toward Rickman. Rickman examined the small wound at the back of his head.

"Mmh, I don´t think this needs stitiches, the blood that dried has closed the wound. Just make sure you do not bump it again, then everything will be all right.".

Hogan protested: "Hey, don´t make me look like a stupid kid that fell out of a tree or something. It wasn´t my fault.".

Rickman nodded. "Okay, I admit, I´m just telling you. Now let me see, Kinch told me they were kicking you, what about your ribs?".

"They´re fine, thanks", replied Hogan as he tried to push Rickman away, who just tried to lift Hogans shirt. Then he stopped in an instant.

_That wasn´t a good move Robert, trying to shove him away with your right hand._

Rickman had noticed the painful effect of the defending move and turned his attention toward that.

"Colonel, what´s up with your right hand?".

"Someone thought it to be funny to try and bend it as far as possible and even farther and then another happy guy came and tried how many times he could kick it.".

"Let me check it then:".

Unwillingly, Hogan extended his arm. After a short examination Rickman said. "Colonel, how long have you been walking around with this?".

"Since about a week I think". Rickman shook his head. "This stubborness will bring about your death one day. Why didn´t you tell Klink or anyone else, that they should fetch a doctor. This is broken and it is not a good thing to keep it like this for a long time.".

Now Hogans patience came to an end. "Rickman, do you really think anybody cared?".

Rickman shook his head. "However, i am going to go to the camp hospital and get some plaster to fix this. Kinch, you can stay here, while I´m off. I´ll be right back.".

After Rickman had left, Kinch said with a carefull look at the guard.

"Colonel, do you know that the game is up the day after tomorrow?".

"Not really, but I suspected something.". He wanted to say more, but did not.

Kinch took the word again. "Colonel, we´re having a coffee party the day after tomorrow. We will make you one as well. LeBeau, Newkirk and Carter are preparing the stuff.".

Hogan nodded, he had understood what Kinch was trying to say. "But don´t make the coffee to strong, you know I hate coffee that´s to black and be careful when pouring out the coffee into the cups, it´s very hot and I don´t want you to burn yourself.".

Kinch smiled. "We will take care, you know LeBeau works very hard on his coffee and Newkirk is baking the cakes, while Carter is arranging the decorations.".

Hogan looked Kinch deep into the eyes. He wanted to say something, which he could not, due to the guard. He hoped the look would do it for him and Kinch understood.

_I thank you for what you are doing, but do not put yourselves at risk, do not risk your lives for me, I do not want it, i could not live if anyone had died instead of me._


	10. Was it all worth it?

Rickmans eyes flashed with anger as he returned to the solitary confinement. Kinch looked at him with a questioning look and then Rickman burst out in anger.

"You know what they did? Those miserable creatures? Hochstetter must have noticed that your wrist was broken! When I came into the camp hospital, it looked as if a herd of cows had run straight through it! They removed everything what even looked like it could support a broken arm.".

He breathed hard, his eyes flashed.

"How can I work when the Gestapo takes away my materials? This is just such a mean move, it is immoral to deprive a doctor of his materials. It is a crime, a crime I say.".

Kinch patted him onto the shoulder. "Rickman, calm down. Getting outraged won´t help anything.".

Rickman looked at the sergeant, nodded and then spoke again.

"Okay, when I noticed this, I went to Klink, but he said he did not have anything besides the things he has got in his first aid kit in his car. However, he gave me permission to use it, so lets see what´s i it. Maybe there´s something of which we could make use.".

A few minutes later, the contents of the first aid kit were spread out on the floor.

Rickman snorted sarcastically. "Wow, some wound plasters, some sterilized gauze, a disinfection spray. That´s not much. Let´s try if we can make something cast like with the sterilized gauze. First we need a stick or something to keep it secured.".

At this last words, Hogan sat up and pointed towards the corner.

"One of the Gestapo goons dropped his beating stick over there, maybe you cab crack it into two pieces and use that.".

Rickman walked over to the stick and picked up the two parts. "Colonel, it is already broken.".

"Oh reallly, I can´t remember that they broke it. Must have broken when they tried to smash my head in.".

With these words, Hogan rolled onto the bunk again. The pounding headache had returned and it got worse with every minute he was siting or standing. Allthough he hated it to show weakness to his friends, he missed the strength to endure the headache at the moment.

Rickman noticed it, but did not make any further comment. Then he said to Kinch "I think this stick will do and the sterilized gauge seems long enough so let´s go to work.".

"Colonel, can you extend your arm, just stay where you are, but we need to fix that wrist.".

Hogan growled again. How he hated it to be tended to like a little kid, but he did not protest and did as Rickman had asked.

A few minutes later, everything was ready. Rickman looked at it quite satisfied.

"That´s the best thing we can do for now. Colonel, anything else?".

"No thanks, I´m fine.".

Rickman shook his head. Stubborn to the end. He decided to keep it this way. Maybe later, but it´s enough for now.

When he left, he said to Hogan. "And Colonel, try to keep quiet, I think that blow on your head didn´t do you any good.".

Then he parted, leaving Kinch behind. Kinch wanted to say something, but the Gestapo guard made a movement, which signaled clearly: go away. Kinch nodded and then said: "Colonel, remember, the coffee´s waiting.".

He was not sure if Hogan had replied, but he thought that he had heard: "Be careful".

The door slammed shut, Hogan was alone.

_The day after tomorrow, so it is like this to be sentenced to death. There´s nothing, nothing left._

His mind drifted away to his home. His mother, his father, who had died not so long ago, his two brothers, Jake and Tom. Jake would never return home, he was shot down with his plane and had not been able to get out in time.

_Is it my turn now? Am I the next one who will never return home? But mom, she can´t stand to lose anyone else. She lost dad, she lost Jake and where Tom is, nobody knows. They think he is imprisoned in a POW camp, but he has been gone since three months and no letter has arrived._

He imagined his mother, how she would receive another official letter.

"We regret to inform you, that your son Robert E. Hogan was killed in action".

_Killed in action. Which action? Killed in action. There has been no action for me in months, at least not the action mentioned in those letters. This action should mean flying. Flying, Goldilocks. How beautiful she was._

Faces of his crew shifted into his mind.

_Farmer, Simons, Batcher, Jackson, Montgomery, Saunders, Johnson, Jamesson, Parker and Beckett. Where are they? Dead? POW´s? Why don´t I know? I am their commander, I am responsible!_

Then he saw the others, for whom he was now responsible and fear came into his heart, stronger than before.

_They are planning something, they want to save me. They are going to risk their lives, I know, they´re up to something dangerous. No, please, don´t let them die. It is my responsabillity to make sure they return home, to make sure that their parents don´t receive official letters. How could I live, if I knew, that one of them had died to save me?_

He shook his head.

_Stop thinking about dying. You are grinding yourself into melancholy, you need to be strong, you need to think clearly._

Coming back into the present, he felt the pain racing through his body. He tried to roll over, but did not succeed.

_What´s the matter with you? Why don´t you just move? Stop complaining like a little child._

He rolled over and lay still. Breathing heavily, he realised that Hochstetters goons knew their job well. He looked at his wristwatch, but discovered, that it did not work anymore.

_Either the battery is worn out, or the watch was demolished during my last meeting with Hochstetter. Fantastic. Now I´ll just decide it´s time to go to sleep._

He pulled the blanket over himself and fell asleep.

Carter, LeBeau and Newkirk ran through the woods. They had been on the mission to save Colonel Hogan, but somehow it had not worked. Now the Gestapo was close behind. They could hear the bullets from the guns smash the trees nearby. They ran and ran, faster as they had ever done in their lives.

Carter was the last one in line. Suddenly, LeBeau, who was second noticed, that he was not behind them anymore.

"Newkirk, Carter, he is gone!".

Newkirk turned around. "What! Where ´as he gone? Let´s go back, we need to find ´im!".

LeBeau nodded and they traced back the path where they had come from.

When they reached a small area without trees, surrounded only by bushes, they saw where Carter was. LeBeau nearly gasped in terror.

Carter had fallen over a treestrunk and had not been able to get up fast enough. Now he was surrounded by a group of Gestapo men. One of them stood in front of Carter, who sat on the ground. In an instant, LeBeau and Newkirk realised who that man was. It was Hochstetter.

Hochstetter laughed as he approached Carter, who still tried to get away. Two Gestapo guards walked up to Carter and pulled him up.

Hochstetter drew closer to him and Newkirk and LeBeau heard him saying: "Aha, aren´t you sergeant Carter, one of Hogans men? Trying to save your commander aren´t you?".

Carter did not answer. Hochstetter spat him in the face. Carter still remained silent, so Hochstetter said: "However, you are about to discover what happens to saboteurs and men who try to save saboteurs. Guards!". He made a gesture towards the guards who where holding Carter. They threw Carter to the floor again. Hochstetter reached for his gun and loaded it. With huge eyes, Carter looked up to Hochstetter, who aimed his gun at him.

LeBeau looked at Newkirk, Newkirk looked back and in an instant, the decision was made. There where ten Gestapo men and only two of them, but they won´t have Carter executed in front of their eyes. They looked once more at each other and that glance promised: _loyal even into the death_.

They grabbed their guns and began to fire at the Gestapo men. Two of them gasped and fell down, before they realised they were attacked. Then the rest of them began to shoot as well.

Within minutes, Newkirk and LeBeaus ammunition was gone and they were surrounded by the remaining Gestapo men. They were taken to Carter, who was still lying on the floor, horror-struck. Hochstetter circled them as a lion his prey.

"More of them? And all Hogans men, what a pity that you won´t see your commander again.". He laughed, a cold and heartless laugh.

Then he made another gesture towards the guards, who took hold of Carter. Hochstetter approached him and said: "Was it all worth it?".

Carter felt no fear. He knew the game was up. He shot one last glance at LeBeau and Newkirk and then said: "Yes.".

Newkirk and LeBeau closed their eyes as Hochstetter pulled the trigger. When they opened them again, Carter was lying at Hochstetters feet, dead. They did not have time to realise what had happened, beacause the guards took hold of LeBeau.

Again, Hochstetter posed his question: "Was it all worth it?". And LeBeau did as had done Carter. He looked at Newkirk and answered: "Yes.".

Newkirk could not look. He could not bear to see another friend being shot. _And you´re next_. A voice said in his head. And at the time he heard it, he realised that he was not afraid of dying, not when already two of his friends had died.

Hochstetter laughed, laughed his mad laugh and then approached Newkirk, asked his question. Newkirk had no one to look at, but in his head he looked at the faces of his friends and said: "Yes.". Moments later, all went black, they were gone.

Hochstetters men took hold of the bodies and threw them onto their truck. Ten minutes later, they reached Stalag13. Inside the camp, they threw the bodies onto the ground, at klinks feet who had come out to see what Hochstetter wanted.

In the solitary confinement, Hogan looked out of the window, straight onto the bodies of his men. He gasped with horror, the world began to turn, thoughts swirled through his mind and then...

"No!". Hogan shot upwards. A moment, he did not know where he was. His heart was racing, his mind filled with terror. He ran to the window and looked outside, neglecting the sharp pain in his head. Outside, the moon shone upon a quiet Stalag. No Hochstetter, no dead friends. Slowly, Hogan calmed down.

_Just a dream Robert, nothing but a dream._

He looked out of the window again. Full moon.

_But what if it won´t be a dream in the future?_


	11. We are no Germans

Everybody thanks for the reviews! Have fun reading.

* * *

While Hogan was asleep, his men in Barracks two were busy with the preparations. Newkirk had just finished the official papers, when Kinch stepped inside. 

"´ey fella, what´s up? Why are you comin´ through the door, thought ya´d left through the tunnel to the watchpost?".

Before Kinch could answer Carter and LeBeau stepped out of Hogans quarters, Carter in the uniform of a German general. They to looked questioningly at Kinch.

Kinch sat down at the table and signalled the others to do the same.

"I was in the watchpost, when Hochstetter cam into the cooler. At first he tried to convince the Colonel that we did not care about him anymore-".

He was interrupted by Newkirk, who smashed his fist onto the table. "What! How could he? That filthy German rag, if I get my ´ands on ´im, ´e´d better make sure, that ´is insurance pays for ´ospital fees!".

"Newkirk, calm. What happened then Kinch?". Carter, eager to know what had happened interrupted Newkirk and Kinch continued.

"The Colonel did not reply to Hochstetter, but when Hochstetter started his tirade on the Third Reich and the Herrenrasse, he could not hold back a sneering comment. This made Hochstetter angry and he called for his goons, who were just about to beat the Colonel up, when I decided to get klink. I met him in his office and took him to the cooler. There he told Hochstetter to leave and, mind you, he left! Then Klink called for Rickman and I stayed there with Rickman and that´s why I came in through the door.".

Newkirk was not at all satisfied with this short explanation. "And what? How´s the gov´nor?".

"He´ll be fine now.". Kinch did not want to say anything more. "But we should concentrate now on saving him from death and not worry about his injuries. I know this sounds hard, but if we lose to much time worrying about him now, we waste time in saving his life. Rickman has tended to him and everything should be fine now.".

The others nodded. "Anyway, Kinch ´ow do you like le uniform?".

Kinch smiled. "It´s perfect Louis. Now we´d better make sure that Carter gets there in time. Have we got some other uniforms?".

"Oui, we´ve got the one we used last week, when we needed to dress up like a German patrol.".

"Fine, one of you needs to dress up as a German as well, we can´t have a General wandering around without his personal attendant.".

"With your permission, I would like to do that.".

"Fine, Newkirk, now Carter, get out of that uniform, roll call´s in a minute."

Carter disappeared into Hogans quarters and came out a minute later, just in time, because Schultz was already shouting: "Raus! Alles Raus! Raus, raus, raus! Schneller, raus!".

Carter hurried outside. As he walked past Schultz, the guard asked: "Carter, what were you doing inside Colonel Hogans quarters?".

Carter grinned. "Do you really want to know this, Schultz?".

The guards eyes widened. "Oh no, Carter, don´t tell me. I don´t see anything, I hear nothing!".

Laughing, the men got into the line. Schultz walked past, counting. "Zwölf, Dreizehn, Vierzehn...". He stopped for a moment when he reached Hogans place, the word "Fünfzehn" on the tip of his tongue. Realising his mistake, he turned to the Kommandant.

"Herr Kommandant, all prisoners are present and accounted for.", but these words were not spoken as proudly as other days, because not all prisoners were there, but the one missing was no ordinary prisoner any more.

Klink turned to the prisoners. "Prisoners, as some of you may have noticed...". He stopped for a moment and sighed. "Well, as I said. As some of you may have noticed, your senior POW Colonel Hogan won´t be in charge here anymore. The Gestapo has found evidence, that he is a saboteur and needs to be executed. This will happen the day after tomorrow. I wanted to remind you, not to do anything foolish.".

Again he paused and the prisoners began to talk amongst each other. Some of them hadn´t noticed that Hogan was gone and they were shocked to hear about this.

Then Klink spoke again. "Quiet please, I have got another announcement to make. From now on, untill Hogans execution, a guard will be present in every Barracks to prevent escape attempts. That´s it. Dismissed.".

Murmuring, all prisoners walked back to the Barracks. In Barracks two, Carter, Kinch, Newkirk and LeBeau were waiting impatiently. They wanted to know which guard would guard them, because this would be a major factor for their plans.

All sighed with relief, when they saw Schultz coming through the door. Kinch nodded to LeBeau and the little Frenchman got out some of his _Apfelstrudel_, Schultze´s favourite food.

"Bonjour, Schultz, mon ami. ´ere, ´ave some _Apfelstrudel_!".

Delighted, Schultz sat down at the table. This was definitely going to be a really good evening for him. He did not see Carter and Newkirk slip into Hogans quarters.

Ten minutes later, a German general and his attendant sneaked out of Hogans quarters and quietly opened the tunnel entrance. Schultz was still eating and did not notice them. So far, everything was going fine. Kinch nodded to LeBeau and vanished into the tunnel as well, to control the phone calls, coming in and out of Gestapo Headquarters.

LeBeau returned to the stove, to make some more food ready to keep Schultz busy.

At the arranged place, Carter and Newkirk met some members of the local underground, who handed a car over to them. One of them was Schnitzer.

Schnitzer said. "Succes boys. Papa Bear depends on you.".

Carter nodded. "Thanks, we´ll try to do our best.". Then they drove off, toward Stalag 6.

On the road, they did not encounter any patrols. Carter was grateful for this, because he was getting really nervous. The closer they cam to Stalag 6, the paler Carter turned.

_Andrew, calm down. You know what Kinch said? He is sure you´re going to make it, otherwise he would have sent somebody else. Now stop worrying._

Then they entered the gates of Stalag 6. Newkirk jumped out of the car and opened the door for Carter. Carter strolled towards the Kommandants office, with an arrogant look on his face. A few minutes later, a young secretary led them into the office.

Behind the desk sat a man, about 40 years old. He had black hair, with some grey stripes in it. When he looked up, they could see his green eyes. With a move of his hand, the Kommandant swept back his brown hair and looked questioningly at them.

Carter halted his observations and began in German. "Herr Kommandant, I am general von Kattenscheit. I am here to inspect your camp by orders of the Führer. The Führer wants every camp in this region to be perfectly, so that´s why I am here.".

The Kommandant nodded. "Heil Hitler, Herr General. I am Hauptmann Berger, Kommandant of Stalag 6, as you may know. If you want to, I will show you around the camp.".

Carter nodded. "Very well, Herr Hauptmann. And after the tour, I would like to speak to your senior POW.".

"Right, Herr General. Woulkd you follow me?".

During the tour, Carter noticed that this camp wasn´t much different from Stalag 13. There was only one big difference. The prisoners seemed tired and demotivated.

_Carter, don´t wonder. You would be demotivated as well, if Crittendon was your senior POW._

After the tour, they returned to the office and Berger called for Crittendon. A few minutes later, the Englisg Colonel walked in and saluted firmly. Then, he turned to Carter and saluted again.

Carter nearly rolled his eyes.

_Oh my God, what a jerk. Who cares if his salute is not perfectly? Who has teached him this idiotic habit of being military correct all the time? Has nobody told him the difference between enemy and ally?_

Then he stopped his thoughts and said to Berger. "Herr Kommandant, could you please leave us alone for a time. I´d like to speak to him personally.".

Berger left, without a comment. When he was gone, Crittendon spoke: "General, if you want to interrogate me, I won´t say anything. You will hear nothing but name, rank and serial number.". And as if he had to prove this, he said:

"Rodney Crittendon, Royal Airforce, 87, ehm no, wait, 65...". He grabbed his dog tag and was about to say his correct serial number when Carter interrupted him.

"Colonel, we are no Germans. I am sergeant Carter and this is corporal Newkirk.".

Crittendon studied them closely and then came to the conclusion, that they were speaking the truth.

"Very interesting, but what do you want from me?". Newkirk jumped in: "Sir, do ya know, in which trouble, you´ve put Colonel Hogan? You know t´at ´e is about to be shot? We´re givin´ ya the chance to rewind your mistake and save Hogans life.".

Crittendon was perplex. Now Carter took over. "Yes, we have got a tape recorder with us. You know, Hochstetter recorded your confessions on a tape and we want to make a fake tape and exchange them. Here is the text you have to say. Understood?".

Crittendon nodded and allthough everybody had doubted that Crittendon could do even the simplest thing, it was succesful. Carter slipped the tape into his pocket and said to Crittendon. "Okay, Colonel and now don´t do anything. You have done enough in this. Just stay here and keep quiet. If Berger asks what we´ve been doing, tell him I´ve asked some questions about the camp life and so on. Got it?".

When Crittendon nodded, they left. They met Berger on their way out and Carter spoke again. "Herr Kommandant, this seems to be a very well run camp. It was a pleasure to visit your camp. Heil Hitler.".

Then they left. They had no trouble on the way back and left the car at the place where they´d found it. When they stepped into the tunnel, Kinch was already waiting for them. "And? How did it go?". Newkirk slapped him on the shoulder in excitement. "Everythin all right mate. No trouble, no patrols and ´ere.", he produced the tape, "you´ve got the complete interrogation with Crittendon.".

He laughed out loud at Carters look. Then Carter protested. "How did you get that tape? It was in my pocket when we left Stalag 6!".

"Just practisin´ mate. I nicked it from you pocket. You should better watch out when walkin´ in a big city, even an absolute beginner could pickpocket you.".

Kinch smiled but then returned to seriousness. "Well done you two. Now go upstairs, Schultz will be eager to see one of us around and LeBeau needs a break, he´s been serving Schultz with all sorts of food for the last two hours.".

The two of them left upstairs and Kinch was alone.

_So far everything has gone well, but how long will our lucky time last?_


	12. What about the Bear?

About an hour later, Kinch called for Carter. "Carter, The underground says, Wachtelschneider hasn´t left Gestapo headquarters. It seems, that he is going to ignore Hogans execution, so I need you to make a call to him and tell him about Hogan and your suspicion, okay?".

Carter nodded. Self-confident, he picked up the phone and waited for Wachtelschneider to pick up his phone.

"Heil, Hitler Herr Obergruppenführer Wachtelschneider. You are speaking to General von Kattenscheit, I already informed you about my inspections I believe? Yes? Fine. Now, I have discovered something that will present a problem to us, if the Red Cross comes and inspects our camps. In Stalag13 there is a Colonel of the US Airforce, called Colonel Robert Hogan. You colleague Major Hochstetter suspects him of treason and wants to shoot him. The problem is, I discovered that there is no real proof for this.".

He paused a moment as Wachtelschneider replied. Then he said "You heard of this? Ah yes, Colonel Klink phoned you, very well. And WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?". Carter shouted the last words and Kinch, who hadn´t suspected this nearly fell of his chair.

Again, Carter listened and then continued shouting: "SO A GERMAN COLONEL TELLS YOU ABOUT SERIOUS SUSPICION AND YOU HAVEN´T EVEN TRIED TO FIND OUT?".

Then he calmed down. "Herr Obergruppenführer, you will take action immediatly, come to Stalag 13 and investigate. I want you to be here tommorrow evening, that should be enough time. You will arrange everything for the meeting and make sure that Hochstetter and Klink are there with the so called proofs for the sabotage acts. If I ever again hear about such a lack of responsabillity from your side, you will find yourself on a VERY long holiday at the RUSSIAN FRONT. Heil Hitler!".

Kinch nodded. "Well done Carter. I believe he will come now. Now lets go to sleep. Everybody needs a rest, we have been working the entire night, morning roll-call´s in two hours.".

Carter went upstairs and told the others what Kinch had said. Schultz was startled. "What? Morning roll-call in two hours? And I haven´t slept a minute. LeBeau, it´s all your fault with your superb Apfelstrudel. Now, _Hop, hop hop _to bed, all of you.".

Then, suddenly realising something he turned to Newkirk. "Hey Engländer, where´s Kinchloe?".

Newkirk grinned. "Schultzie, ya really want to know? Wait I´ll give ya a tip. It ´as to do with the guv´nor. Got it?".

Schultz interrupted him with a panicking look in his eyes. "No, no, no Newkirk! Don´t tell me. I don´t see anything, I hear NOTHING.".

Just when he had said this, the bunk which hid the tunnel entrance slid upwards and Kinch emerged. "Hi Schultzie.".

Schultz looked at him, decided that it was better to know nothing and fled into Colonel Hogans quarters.

Grinning, all of them went to bed.

Meanwhile, in the solitary confinement, Hogan rolled uncomfortably onto his other side. He wanted desperately to get some sleep, but somehow his mind did not allow him to rest.

Every time he closed his eyes, he was woken up again by the steps outside the door. He knew that it were only the guards, but he could not shove away the fear, that they would come in, while he was asleep, come in and beat him up, before he would have had the chance to defend himself.

He looked to the small window with the iron bars in front of the glass and a part of a poem came into his mind. _Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage_.

When he thought of this, he smiled a faint smile and shifted his crush cap under his head. The Gestapo could put him into prison, could torture him, but if he did not allow them to break him, he would be free, at least in his mind. And for the first time since days, he slept without having nightmares, without fear for the future.

He was woken up when he heard Klink shouting: "REPOOOOORT!". _Roll Call_.

He walked over to the window and looked outside. There they were, his friends. Nothing had happened to them, they were still safe. Then he saw, that Kinch looked over to the solitary and he could swear, that he had winked. Hogan returned to his bunk and waited.

Kinch and the others went inside the tunnel after roll call and contacted the underground. When Kinch looked up from the radio. "Wachtelschneider hasn´t left Berlin yet. What´s the mattert with him?".

Then Carter walked over to Kinch and put his hand on Kinchs shoulder. "Kinch, we told him to be here this evening, he won´t leave untill midday. Don´t worry, he´ll come.".

Kinch nodded and went upstairs with the others. Then he said: "Boys, I´ll get Rickman and go to the solitary, we´ve got the permission from Klink to visit him twice a day, in the morning and in the evening. Meanwhile, I suggest you get some rest, all of you look really tired.".

Simultaneously, all of them shook their heads. Kinch smiled. _Loyality._

Hogan growled as he saw Rickman appear. Then he said to Kinch: "What´s the matter with you lot, always bringing in Doctor´s for every scratch I get. I´m a grown up man, not a little kid.".

Rickman smiled and grabbed a syringe out of his bag. "But you instantly turn into one, Colonel, when you see this.".

Hogan retreated even farther into the corner. "Hey, there´s no need for this!".

Rickman shook his head. "Indeed not, I just wanted to remind you of your more childlike sides.".

Then he turned serious again and said: "Show me your head, how´s the wound?".

"It´s fine, thanks.".

Rickman sighed and then resolutely stepped over to Hogan and examined the wound. "Hmm, seems you were right for this time. I think we´ll leave it to that.".

Then Kinch, who had been waiting all the time came over and handed Hogan some food, which LeBeau had prepared. "We thought you might wanted to have something decent to eat.".

Hogan smiled thankfully, but before they could say anything more, the guard came in to get Rickman and Kinch, so their further conversation would have to wait untill this evening.

The day passed in a dull gaze of waiting for Wachtelschneider. Kinch was getting more nervous by the minute and the others had just started their twohundreth poker game of the day. If Carter and LeBeau would pay Newkirk all the money he had earned over the past few years, he would certainly be a multi-millionaire.

At five o´clock, Kinch could not bear the stress any longer and got down the ladder to make contact with the underground. When he came upstairs he was even more worried.

"Boys, listen. The underground says, that Wachtelschneider left two hours ago, he should be here by now. The problem is, that there has been a bombing raid and several bridges are destroyed. Nobody has heard from Wachtelschneider since and now we don´t know if he´s dead or just held up.".

Newkirk jumped in. "Then we ´ave to do somethin´ now. Shut down the operation, rescue the guv´nor and we´ll be off.".

Kinch shook his head. "Maybe you haven´t noticed, but Hochstetter has arrived and posted extra guards at the fence and in the cooler. There is no chance that we can go out through our tunnel or that we can get through to the Colonel.".

Now Carter spoke up. "And what do we do NOW? We can´t just wait here and do nothing.".

Kinch shook his head and said in a quiet voice: "I think we have to wait if Wachtelschneider makes it and meanwhile try to get Hochstetters tape exchanged. There is nothing more we can do.".

"I will go to Klink and try to find out where Hochstetter keeps the tapes. You lot, keep Schultz busy while I sneak outside.". Before they could reply, Kinch had gone.

Klink almost believed that Hogan was back to his normal routine, when he was in his office with Hochstetter and someone came into the room. Then his eyes dulled again, it was Kinchloe.

Hochstetters temper rose instantly. "KLINK! WHO IS THIS MAN!".

Kinch faced Hochstetter. "Sergeant James Kinchloe, US Army AirCorps, 0873747".

At the words US Army AirCorps, Hochstetter jumped out of his seat in temper. "ANOTHER AMERICAN! KLINK!".

Kinch said to Klink: "Kommandant, I want to speak to you, about-". He could not finish his sentence, as Hochstetter started shouting again.

"KLINK! YOU WON´T TALK TO ANYBODY BUT ME!". Again he jumped out of his seat, but this time bumping his head against the lamp, hanging right above his chair. The force of the hit knocked Hochstetter backwards of his feet and his cap was blown of his head.

As Kinch saw the cap fly, he noticed something strange. _The cap fell as if it was a lot heavier then it looked_. Suddenly Kinch realised_ The tape was in Hochstetters cap_.

He leaned forward a bit, so he could have a look into the cap and indeed, there it was. Before Kinch could do anything, Hochstetter had grabbed the cap and placed it firmly back onto his head. Then he said: "Klink, I will now inspect the Barracks and the prisoners and they will be guarded by the Gestapo from now on. I myself will see to the prisoners in Barracks Two. ".


	13. Never stop fighting

Thanks for the reviews everybody!

* * *

When Kinch came back into Barracks two, everybody was eager to hear what he had found out. Of course they had been listening to the short conversation between Hochstetter and Kinch, but they had not heard anything relevant to their problem. Kinch however wore a smile on his face.

Newkirk jumped at him, as soon as he entered the room. "Kinch, mate, what did you find out? Do you know where we can find that tape?".

Kinch sat down and nodded. "Yes, Newkirk, I did, but we will need a really good plan to get that tape of Hochstetter, because he's carrying it inside his cap.".

"Inside is cap? Mais, ca ne marche pas! It's not fair!".

At this comment from LeBeau, Kinch could not help but smile. "Louis, has the war ever been fair? Has Hochstetter ever cared about fairness? Come on Louis, you know better. We'd better come up with a good plan and switch the tapes. I'll go down into the tunnel and contact the underground again, I need to know if Wachtelschneider was seen somewhere on the way, because otherwise we need a different plan anyway.".

"Kinch, wait! I-I I mean, I know- I want- I will", Carter stammered, not able to tell what he wanted.

Kinch was surprised, but returned to the table. When he was seated, Carter had calmed down and was able to say what he wanted to say.

"I think I've got a plan.". Carter was interrupted by Newkirk, who said: "Oh come on mate, please don waste our time with some far fetched ideas of blowing up generals and stuff like that.".

Carter shook his head. "This time is not like the others. I tell you, I've got a plan."

Kinch nodded "Tell us.".

"Ok, we all know, that Hochstetter won't take of his cap for us, but there are people, for which he will forget everything. You know about which people I'm talking?".

LeBeau nodded. "Oui, generals and of course, les filles!".

Carter smiled. "You've got my point LeBeau. We will distract him with a general and some girls. We need some women from the underground to come here, with one of the members of the underground dressed as a general. That general will arrive here unexpectedly, on his way to the Russian front, to take a little rest fort he trip and then continue at night. We will manipulate Klink to let us help him with the organisation of the dinner, which will take place for the general. Then, during the meal, a bridge near Hammelburg will explode. I'll take care of that.-"

Again he was interrupted, this time by Kinch. "Carter, do you realise this means getting out at daylight in an area covered by the Gestapo. That's ridiculous.".

Carter shook his head. "Kinch, I can do this. I'll go outside in a Gestapo uniform."

Again, Kinch interrupted. "Carter, even in a Gestapo uniform, your German is not good enough.".

"It is!".

"No, Carter, it might be fine when playing a German general and you just have to shout a few things, while somebody else takes care of the talking, but you would have to pass as a native.".

When Kinch had said this, it seemed as if a bright light shone through Carters eyes. Kinchs words had lit a fire in the young man and the others misinterpreted this.

Newkirk took hold of Carters shoulder and said. "Carter, don't let your feelings carry you away from reality. You're not a German, you're not going outside."

Again, Carter shook his head. "You don't know me. I never told any of you, but my German is better than any of you expect or could expect, because you've never heard me speaking German the way I can.".

The whole Barracks had fallen silent and Carter continued. "The only thing you know about my nationality is, that I am an American, with native American blood. But you don't know about my father.".

He fell silent for a moment, not knowing how to continue. Then, looking into Kinchloes eyes, he found the words again and continued.

"My father was German, half my family is German. You think I grew up in North Dakota, but that's not true, not really. I was born there and lived there until I was two years old. Then, my father returned to his home country, together with us. I lived in Germany for fifteen years, had German friends, went to a German school. When I turned seventeen, it was 1938. My father saw the war coming, he saw what Hitler was going to do to the Germany he and we loved. We moved to North Dakota. At home, we still spoke English, but I learned German, as if it was my mother tongue.".

Everybody stared at him with amazement. Finally, Kinch broke through the silence.

"Carter, why didn't you tell us? I mean, you could trust us, we are your friends.".

Carter looked straight into his eyes. "I think you should know, Kinch. Look at your hands. Don't you know how it is to be judged only by where you come from? I know what it is to be judged like that, to be ignored, no, hated, just because you can speak German, because your father is German. Soon after the war began, my father was forced to leave the town in which we had lived for so long, why? Because everybody knew where he came from. My father was against the Nazis, me and my four brothers were in the army, defending our country, but did it matter? It did not, for them, my father was a Nazi, regardless of what he thought or what he did. And the same was true for me and the others. We could not enter our place of birth, without being insulted, threatened and assaulted. Is this enough of an explanation?"

Everybody nodded, still not fully comprehending what they had just heard. Carter, innocent, young Carter, clumsy Carter speaking wise words like this? Their thoughts were interrupted by Carter, who wanted to continue his plan.

"Okay, so the bridge explodes. At the same time, Barracks fourteen, you know that empty Barracks at the end of the camp will explode, together with some explosions in the woods. Because there are so many explosions, they will think it's a bombing raid. We will add to the confusion by shouting "bombing raid" and trying to get everybody onto the floor. In this confusion, Hochstetter won't think about his cap and we can switch the tapes.".

"Damn Andrew, that might work, boy. What dya think Kinch?".

Kinch smiled. "I think it's a great plan, I'll contact the underground immediately. Carter, get the explosives ready. LeBeau, you and Newkirk will spread the explosives around the camp. Carter, after you've finished the explosives, come up here again and we'll discuss the rest.".

Half an hour later, everybody was upstairs again. Carter noticed, that Kinch looked extremely worried.

"What's it Kinch?".

Kinch sighed. "We've got two problems right now. The first one is, that we don't know where Wachtelschneider is and if he's still alive because the underground have been looking for him, but haven't found a trace. We can't do anything but wait if he turns up so we'll have to leave that. The second problem is, that Carters plan is no good now. The underground says they can't send any of their men or women here, the area is to well guarded by the Gestapo and it would look to suspicious.".

Carter looked stunned for a moment, but then he said: "We can't replace Wachtelschneider, but for my plan what if we were the women and the general?".

Everybody looked at him, thunderstruck.

"Whatya mean?"

"LeBeau, the food you cooked this morning was really awful, I think at least two of us have caught food poisoning.".

LeBeau jumped to his feet. "Mais ca ne marche pas! Carter, quest-ce que tu veux? What's your problem? The food was excellent! Maybe you've eaten some canned spam? That would-"

He was interrupted by Kinch, who burst into laughter. LeBeau turned to him, angrily. "What's that? Laughing?". Again, he was about to start a tirade, when Kinch interrupted him.

"Louis, don't you see, it's another part of Carters plan. The two of us, who are in the camp hospital, supervised by one of our own men can play the general and the woman and the others can come to the dinner.

Carter grinned. "You understood."

"Hey Andrew, but what about a woman? We don ave a woman ere.".

Carter smiled a broad smile..

"I think, that one's for Kinch." Before Kinch could interrupt, Carter carried on.

"Now that we've got that settled, we will need a general. I think that's me, because LeBeau has to cook and Newkirk has to snatch the cap from Hochstetter.".

Everybody nodded. Kinch wondered, little Carter had taken over the leadership at the moment and had devised a scheme which would make Colonel Hogan proud.

_It seems that Carter is not the way we thought, he is clever, really clever. And determined, determination is a strong inspirator._

His thoughts were disturbed, when Carter once more spoke. "Okay, I think everybody's clear about what he has to do? Then I'll go out right now and get the explosives settled. I'll be back in half an hour. Meanwhile, could two of you place the other explosives in the woods and around the camp?".

Again, everybody nodded. As Carter walked towards the bunk, Kinch sank into his thoughts again.

_I hope it works. It's crazy enough to work, let's get the Carter-scheme done._

He smiled, as he got a packet of dynamite and made his way towards Barracks fourteen. He looked at the fence. Out there where three of his friends right now and one, with a very dangerous mission, but out there was also Wachtelschneider and Kinchs heart filled with sadness as he realised, that all this determination, bravery and effort would be useless, if Wachtelschneider would not come.

Carter walked through the woods, upright and arrogant, so that anybody who wanted to could see him. He was not in need for hiding. His German was fluent and he had identity papers in his pocket, which told, that he was General von Kattenscheit. He reached the bridge without meeting a patrol and was able to put the explosives in place, without being interrupted. When he climbed up the hill again, he noticed, that there was a patrol coming down from the other side.

_Why are they running so fast?_

Carter jumped behind a rock, afraid that they had seen him putting the explosives onto the bridge, but he soon realised, that they were chasing somebody. He looked to his right side and saw a woman running away. Immediately he recognised her, _Tiger_.

He ran towards her, but she, recognizing his uniform ran away. Carter could not shout at her, he could only do one thing, face the patrol.

When the SS-patrol rounded the corner, he ran towards them, gasping.

He faced the captain leading the group and said: "Heil Hitler Herr Kapitän. Sie ist da hinten." He made a gesture towards the road. "Sie hat meinen Wagen. Sie hielt uns an und wir dachten sie wäre eine Zivilistin und bräuchte Hilfe, aber sobald wir angehalten hatten hielt sie mir eine Waffe an den Kopf, befahl mir auszusteigen und fuhr mit dem Wagen davon in Richtung Süden. She's_ back there. She's got my car. She stopped us and we thought that she was a German civilian in need of help, so we stopped, but as soon as we stopped the car, she took out a gun and forced me to leave my car. She got in and drove of to the south._".

The captain did not ask for Carters papers, he only listened carefully and then ran off the way he came, shouting to his men: "Kommt mit. Zum Wagen! _Come with me. To the car!_".

Carter sighed. Tiger had made it, he had made it. But where was Tiger now? He walked in the direction in which Tiger had gone and soon realised, that this was the road to Stalag13. What did Tiger want here?

Meanwhile, LeBeau and Newkirk had had no trouble in placing the dynamite around the camp and had arrived back at Stalag13. They were very surprised, as they saw Kinch sitting in the tunnel, together with Tiger.

LeBeau was the first to regain his speech. "Bonjour Tiger, what are you doin ere?"

Tiger smiled and said: "I eard from the underground about colonel ogan and that you were in need of a woman. I knew, that they would not send anybody, but I wanted to come and elp you.".

Before Tiger could say anything else, Carter came into the tunnel. With all of them back, they could get the rest of the plan pulled of.

Kinch spoke: "Ok, we've got another twenty minutes till roll call. As we've got Tiger here now, we´re not in need for another woman, are we? So I will take my post at the radio. After roll call, the general and his secretary will arrive and I will make sure, that we are there at dinner this evening. Carter, I think you'd better go to bed and make sure you look ill enough. Meanwhile, Newkirk, could you make some identity papers for Tiger? And LeBeau, could you go and find her a dress? I will go and contact the underground again, I can't believe Wachtelschneiders still not here.".

Twenty minutes later...

"Raus, raus, alles raus, hop, hop". Schultz came into Barracks two, shouting at them to get outside. When they were all lined up, Schultz began to count. "Elf, Zwölf, Dreizehn. Hey, where's Vierzehn? Where's Carter?".

Kinch jumped in. "Schultzie, he's inside, he's ill.".

"What? I want him to be out here, now! It's roll call, if Kommandant Klink hears about this. I will go to see if Carters there and he'd better be!".

"Carter, why aren't you outside?".

"Schultzie, I feel so bad, I think I've been eating to much canned spam lately.".

"Carter! You know, that none of the prisoners are to stay in the Barracks during roll call. If you're really ill, then go to the camp hospital.".

Carter nodded. "I will Schultz, I will.".

He got out of his bed and with unsteady feet began to walk towards the door. When he had nearly reached the door, he fell over and landed on the floor. Schultz hurried towards him and helped him to his feet.

All prisoners watched Carter, while he was stumbling towards the camp hospital, nearly carried by Schultz. Just in this moment, Klink came out of his office, shouting: "REEEEPOOOORT!".

Schultz released Carter and ran towards the Kommandant. He gasped: "All prisoners here and accounted for, Herr Kommandant."

Klink gazed over to the circle of prisoners, which had formed. "What are they doing over there, Schultz?".

Schultz was shocked. "Carter! I forgot.". Then he hurried towards the place, where Carter lay on the ground, unable to get up. Schultz pulled him to his feet again and took him to the camp hospital. Rickman followed the two.

When Schultz had disappeared, Carter came to life again and wanted to jump out of bed, but was held back by Rickman.

"No, Carter, you will have a rest now.".

Carter protested. "But I am not ill, I was just simulating."

Rickman shook his head. "Not a word. I've had enough of those stubborn Americans. You will do what I tell you and now, go to sleep.".

During this argument, Kinch came inside and burst into laughing as he heard of the reason for the argument. Ten minutes later, Rickman knew everything about the plan and Kinch and Carter where in the tunnel under the camp hospital to get Carter into the uniform of a German general.

Not knowing anything about what his boys were doing and without sense of time, Hogan sat in the solitary confinement. The uncertainty of the moment got unbearable for him.

_What are they doing outside? If I only knew what they are planning, if I could only help them._

Angrily, he slammed his fist against the wall.

_I'm going mad, I sure am. I can't sleep, I can't think. I can't do anything. I don't know anything._

He thought he'd never felt so helpless in his life, but at the same moment he realised, that this was not true, he had felt hopeless before.

_But I was always able to find a solution and now I am not. Admit it Robert, you can't stand the fact that you do not have any chance to defend yourself and you don't want other people to risk their lives for you._

His thoughts were interrupted by two guards coming into the cell.

_There they are again. Hochstetter must have ordered them to come in here every day and beat me up. Not this time, boys._

He jumped to his feet. His ribs protested, but he ignored the pain and concentrated on the two people who had entered. He noticed, that they were unarmed except for the one guard Hogan called Heinrich, because he looked so much like a German, the German nationality was stamped on him like it was printed on his forehead. However, Hogan had no time to laugh at this, because in his hand, Heinrich held a baseball bat.

The other guard jumped forward, trying to catch him by surprise, but Hogan jumped aside and kicked the guard against the wall. Immediately he turned his attention to the guy with the baseball bat. While the other guard was getting to his feet, Hogan jumped into the far right corner, observing both the guards.

Heinrich and the other guard now advanced simultaneously and when they were at about two meters away from him, they attacked. The other guard tried to grab Hogan and get him out of the corner, while Heinrich swung the baseball bat towards Hogans head.

He ducked just in time to avoid the bat and rolled away between the guards. He used the surprise to his advantage and once again sent the other guard flying into the corner.

_That´s for the ribs, boy._

With the other guard out of the way, he turned to the other one and kicked him against the elbow to make him release the baseball bat. The bat flew out of Heinrichs hands and landed in the far left corner. All both Heinrich and Hogan made a run for the corner, but Hogan had forgotten the other guard, who tackled him from behind. With a hard crash Hogan landed flat on his face.

He ignored the blood trickling down his cheek and jumped to his feet once more, thereby kicking the other guard again. Meanwhile Heinrich had retrieved his baseball bat and was coming at Hogan from behind, but before he could hit him, he was caught in surprise as Hogan turned around and in one smooth movement grabbed the bat out of his hands.

_That turns the chances, doesn't it, boys?_

Before he could use the club to his advantage, the other guard had grabbed the other end and tried to get the bat. While the two were fighting, Heinrich advanced from behind and tackled Hogan. Hogan was kicked of his feet and landed on the ground. Immediately after that, a kick into his stomach made the world go black for a moment and he felt the bat sliding out of his hands. He tried to get onto his feet, but another kick prevented him from regaining his breath. As he opened his eyes, he saw Heinrich with the club in his hands, a mad smile on his face. In the same moment, he heard a door being opened and someone came in. For a moment it seemed as if all sound had drained away, he could not hear anything only see. He turned his head towards the door and from the floor he only saw boots. Black army boots. Those were not his friends...


	14. A Gentleman General

Again, thanks for the reviews ;-) And enjoy reading.

* * *

As Hogan realised that the guards had retreated, he lifted his head, scanning the person who had just entered.

_Black, black boots, black uniform._

His mind combined the facts before Hogan had seen the face of the man. _Hochstetter_.

Only the idea of his enemy standing near him made him get onto his feet, although his muscles protested with every move.

Concentrating to stand without falling over, Hogan focused on Hochstetter and tried to let his voice sound as ironic as possible.

"Hello major. What a _pleasure_ to see you. I was just having a nice chat with your goons. I must say, they are certainly _charming _company."

Hochstetter grinned one of his rare grins and replied: "Well colonel, I´m sure you must be terribly sorry, that after tomorrow you won´t have the chance to talk to them anymore, To nobody actually.".

He continued as he saw the rage building up inside Hogan. "You know, you won´t be the last one. I believe there are some others who are very likely to join you sooner or later. For example that black sergeant. Pah, black people have never been any good, no wonder such sad figures as you are have their admiration.".

Hochstetter was so busy making Hogan enraged, that he did not realise that the officer was reaching boiling point. Fists clenched he eyed Hochstetter, his eyes flashing.

"And you know, that other guy, with the cap. He seems quite young to me, so young, so innocent and in the end he will end up where you will be tomorrow. I only need time...".

Hogan breathed hard. _Kinch, Carter. _

"Tell me how you feel, colonel. Awaiting death and knowing you´ve never accomplished anything. The crew of your plane is dead, your barracks mates will follow. How does it feel to be, let me put it this way, worthless and unable to be in command? What a pity you have been given the command and responsibility. You have failed, colonel, you failed to protect your crew, you are about to fail your men.".

Hogan could not stand it anymore.

_Regardless of what happens, he has to stop now, or I will kill him._

He took a deep breath, before he stepped forward and said calmly: "Hochstetter, you are just a poor little bastard.".

Then, with all the strength he had, he punched Hochstetter in the face and sent him flying to the ground.

Getting ready for the consequences, he turned around, facing the guards, but the awaited response did not come.

Hochstetter got up, rubbing the left side of his face. Then he sad with a mad chuckle. "Hogan, how I would like to shoot you on sight, but I will wait until tomorrow, maybe there is some foolish plan going on to save you, than I can line up the others next to you.".

He stamped out of the cell, laughing madly, his guards following him closely. Hogan watched them go, worried.

_What have I done? He will have my men as well. Rob, why can´t you control your temper?

* * *

_

When Hochstetter rushed out of the solitary, he ran straight into a general. Eyeing him suspiciously.

"Who are you?".

The general looked at him, as if he were a piece of dirt and then replied arrogantly: "I am general von Kattenscheit, I am inspecting the prison camps in this area by order of the Führer. The Führer wants to be sure, that everything in his prison camp runs smoothly.".

Hochstetter had straightened at the mentioning of the Führer and now he was listening with full attention, trying to draw the respect of the general.

"But of course Herr General. I am here to do investigations regarding the senior POW. He is to be shot tomorrow on suspicion of treason.".

"That is most interesting, Herr Major. I want you to tell me everything about this. Unfortunately, I have to go and see the Kommandant of this camp, a certain Klinik, oh no, Klink. But I want to see you this evening at dinner. I will arrange everything with the Kommandant. I expect you to be there.".

Hochstetter smiled and with a perfect salute marched away.

Carter walked over to Klinks office and stepped inside.

"Kommandant Klink?".

Klink made a small jump from behind his desk and hurried towards the general.

"Heil Hitler, Herr General. What can I do for you? I had not heard of your visit. Can I do something for you?".

The general cut him off with one sharp movement of his hand.

"Enough, Klink. I am General von Kattenscheit and I am inspecting the prison camps in this area. I will only stay this evening, but I´d like to have dinner with you and talk about some aspects of the camp here. Would that be possible?"

"Certainly Herr General. You know, we have got a fantastic cook here in the camp. One of the prisoners is a true chef. He will be delighted to prepare the food.".

"And poison us all, Klink. Do you think I am a fool?".

"But Herr General. The prisoners will be watched closely by my best guard, sergeant Schultz.

Carter nodded, satisfied. Then turning to Klink again, he said in his most arrogant voice: "Klink, I just met a certain major Hochstetter. He will be there as well, I want to talk to him."

Carter ignored Klinks look of disgust and said: "Fine, that is settled then. I will see you tonight. Now, I want a tour around the camp. I want to see the defeated prisoners of the Third Reich, it will demoralise them, to see yet another victorious enemy passing right under their noses.".

Klink nodded, with a feeling of disgust.

_What is it nowadays in people, that they seem delighted at the defeat and suffering of other people. What an awful person this general must be._

"Certainly, Herr General. Schultz will take you on a tour.".

Carter, already on his way out, turned around and said: "Oh Kommandant. I had forgotten. I have brought my secretary with me, she will be there this evening as well. She is now waiting in the car and I will take her with me on the tour through the camp.".

Klink nodded again. "Very well Herr General. Schultz! Guide Herr von Kattenscheit around the camp and tell corporal LeBeau and the other men from Barracks two that they have to organise the dinner for this evening.".

Schultz saluted and headed out with the general. Eyeing the general closely, he suddenly made a discovery. His eyes widened. "C-c-carter. What are you doing in the uniform?".

Carter blinked. "Saving the colonel, Schultzie. Now play along, will you.".

Schultz turned away. "I don´t see anything...".

Then he turned back. "Her von Kattenscheit, would you please follow me?".

With a grin, Carter followed Schultz to the car, where they met Tiger. Then they began their tour around the camp, which ended in Barracks Two.

Kinch, grinned as he saw Carter and a troubled Schultz appear through the door.

"Right, so this part has gone well. Newkirk, have you got the tapes ready?"

Newkirk nodded.

"Okay, the bombs are in place and the timers are set. Klink always has dinner at six o´clock so that´s an easy one.".

He glanced at his watch. _Five o´clock_.

"LeBeau, get over to the kitchen and prepare a meal.".

LeBeau nodded and wanted to leave, but was stopped by Carter.

"Louis, I know how you like to put dog food and things like that into the food for the Germans, but please, not this time. I have to eat it as well...".

The others laughed out loud, as they saw the look on Schultzes face. LeBeau grinned.

"Okay, Carter. Not this time.".

Kinch continued his orders. "Carter, get back outside and have a chat with Klink or something. Maybe you could demand to see the colonel, I want to know if he´s been treated all right since yesterday. Newkirk, get some kind of clothes which let you look as a waiter, you will do the waiting this evening. I will go to see if Wachtelschneider has already left, because if he hasn´t...".

His sentence was left unfinished, but they all knew, that future looked dark if the Obergruppenführer was dead, or wounded by the bombing.

Carter and Schultz left, followed by Tiger. Kinch watched them as they made their way towards Klinks office.

_So many things have gone well and the most important thing of all is missing. It´s not fair._

Then he rushed down the stairs, to their radio. He contacted the underground, but they had no news of Wachtelschneider.

_Where is he?_

Meanwhile, Carter and Tiger had convinced Klink to let them visit Hogan.

* * *

Hogan was woken out of his memories by three people entering the room. One, he identified immediately, it was Schultz. But the other two?

Blinking against the light from the corridor, he tried to make out their faces, but Schultzes explanation came first.

"Colonel Hogan. These are Herr General von Kattenscheit and Fräulein Hegelsberger, his secretary. They wanted to see you.".

Hogan smirked. "A high ranking general? Out to visit the wild animals in the zoo?".

The voice that came back from the man was cold and threatening. "Herr colonel, you´d better not mess with me, this could bring you in serious, serious trouble.".

Hogan laughed a humourless laugh. "Threatening me, Herr General? Funny, threatening men who are already condemned.".

The bitter tone in the voice pierced Carters heart. _Why can´t Schultz go away?_

Resolutely, he turned to Schultz. "Sergeant, you will leave me and Fräulein Hegelsberger alone for a moment. I want to talk to the prisoner. And don´t worry, if he gets aggressive. I can care for myself.".

At these words, Carter pulled a revolver out of his pocket and eyed it with satisfaction.

Schultz nodded. "Of course, Herr General.".

As he had gone, Carter stepped towards the colonel.

Hogan shot a glance at him, but pretended to ignore him. Then, Carter sat down next to him on the bunk.

Hogan, who had still not recognised him slid away. "Hey, don´t get touchy. I´ve had enough of this. What do you want from me?"

"Just asking, how you are, boy, I mean, colonel.".

A smile appeared on Hogans face, as he recalled the familiar voice. "Carter! It´s you?".

Carter smiled. "Of course, colonel. And guess, who is this?".

Hogan eyed the woman, immediately recognising her. "Tiger! How...".

Carter shook his head. "It´s a long story. We just wanted to ask if you´re al right?".

Hogan nodded, slightly irritated.

_No coddling, okay?_

"We are trying to get a hand on Hochstetters tapes this evening. Thought this would rise your spirits a bit.". He grinned as he explained a few details about their plans.

Hogan did not know what to say.

_They are really going to do it and they can. I´m so proud of them..._

He blinked the emotions away and said. "Then I won´t hold you up in your preparations. Carter, be careful, please.".

Carter nodded and turned towards the door. "Schultz, open, please!".

As Carter wanted to walk outside, he was held back by a hand on his shoulder, Hogans. He said. "Carter, I was going to say this after we had al come home, but I am not sure we all will. Carter, I am so proud of you all and I want you lot to know, that you are the best friends one can have.".

Carter turned around, smiled a faint smile and said. "We will, colonel... We will come home."


	15. Action Time

Thanks for the reviews ;-) I apologize for this chapter, because it´s so short, but I did not want to go any further in this chapter, because I feel that the next part should be separate.

* * *

Hochstetters jaw dropped, as he listened to the stories of General von Kattenscheit. 

_This man must be a true hero. Maybe, if I can convince him of my capabilities, he will be able to get me the promotion, I´ve been wanting for so long..._

When the General dropped into yet another story, in which he miraculously escaped four allied fighters and then had returned back to base with only one engine, Hochstetter noticed, that von Kattenscheits secretary was eyeing him with obvious interest.

As Newkirk served the main dish, Tiger moved closer to Hochstetter and laughed at him, pretending to be shy. Hochstetter smiled back and Carter, who had seen this said:

"Major Hochstetter, may I introduce you to my secretary. Her husband was killed three months ago and now I´m taking her with me, everywhere. The poor girl needs company."

At this words, Tiger moved even closer to the major, to the point, where she could smell his after-shave and above all, his bad breath. Disgusted, she wanted to move away, but only the thought about the mission kept her in place. Hochstetter moved closer as well and Tiger whispered.

"Oh major, what is such an intelligent and handsome man doing in such a boring prison camp?".

Hochstetter smiled. "My girl, I´d rather be fighting of course, but a man has to do, what a man has to do.".

Tiger touched his cheek gently and said: "Major, I heard you captured a dangerous criminal, who was committing sabotage acts against the Third Reich. You must be a very brave man to confront such a dangerous enemy."

Hochstetter swelled with pride at these words and was just about to tell her the details of his capture, when she laid her finger onto his lips.

"Ssssh major, why don´t you come a bit closer?".

Hochstetter shoved even nearer to her and she embraced him. During this, she threw a disgusted look at Newkirk, who stood in the other corner of the room and motioned him to get closer for the final job.

Tiger released the major and gently took of his cap, laid it on the table and began stroking his hair. Hochstetter was close to pulling away and retrieving his cap, but then she whispered.

"Mmmh major, without that cap you look even better, such beautiful black hair.".

Hochstetter relaxed and concentrated fully on Tiger. Meanwhile, in the tunnels under Stalag 13, Kinch was looking onto his wristwatch.

_17.59, one minute left._

One minute later, Klinks diner party was crawling on the floor, trying to protect themselves from the "bombs". Newkirk rushed over to the table and quickly exchanged the tapes. Then he fell flat onto the floor, next to Hochstetter, pretending to protect the German major.

* * *

Hogan nearly fell off his bunk as the explosions ripped through the quiet afternoon. Getting to his feet, he was once again knocked over, as Schultz blindely burst into the cell and ran into him. 

"Colonel Hogan! No monkey business, please!".

Hogan smiled. "But Schultzie, can´t you see that I haven´t left the building? It must be some sort of bombing raid.".

Schultz sighed with relief. "Of course, Colonel.". Then he left again.

Hogan seated himself on his bunk once more, staring into the darkness.

* * *

"Boy, did you hear those explosions? I believe they must have heard them in London. You know, these were very special explosives, they-". 

Kinch smiled. "Yes, Carter, they were perfect, really.".

LeBeau nodded. "Oui, but what do we do now?".

Kinch gave him a worried look. "We´ll have to wait, we´ve done everything that is possible for the moment. We switched the evidence, distracted Hochstetter and given him something to think about, because if the Colonel´s in the solitary, he can´t have sabotaged that bridge...".

* * *

Kinch came out of the tunnel, holding a piece of paper in his right hand. Instantly, everybodies attention was focused on him. 

"The Underground just sent this message. Wachtelschneider was seen in a hotel near Hammelburg, so that means, that he´s alive and on his way to us.".

Smiles covered the faces of the men in the Barracks.

_There´s hope again..._

"Ok, boys. Now go and get some sleep. I think we´ve earned some rest and we can´t do anything else."


	16. Is there a place for me in Heaven?

As promised, here´s the slightly longer chapter...

* * *

**  
**

**Next morning**

Nervously, the men from Barracks Two jumped out of their beds, two hours before morning roll call. Neither of them had slept well last night.

Carter turned drowsily towards the stove. "Is there any coffee left?".

Kinch chose this moment to emerge from the secret tunnel entrance and grumble: "No, I drank at least two litres of it last night.".

"Quoi? You say you ´aven´t slept at all? Mon Dieu, Kinch, that´s not good for you. Mon Colonel would not be happy with this.".

Kinch shook his head. "I think he´s got other things on his mind right now, besides you don´t look to well either.".

Their bickering was interrupted by Schultz, coming inside.

"Hey boys, I thought you would be awake, after all, today-"

He stopped as he saw the look on the men´s faces.

_Of course, they don´t want to be reminded, but it seems that they have completely abandoned reality and think that it is still possible that Hogan will be rescued._

Schultz shook his head and headed out again. "I will see you guys in two hours and please, don´t try some monkey business, please..."

Kinch could not help but smile.

_I guess there´s a lot of "monkey business" up today, poor Schultz.

* * *

_

Hogan was also wide awake, looking out over the compound through the only window, his cell provided.

_Sunrise. It´s long ago that I have seen the sun rise like this._

He let himself glide down onto the floor, warming himself in the sunlight that came through the window.

_Sunlight..._

He opened his eyes as Schultz came inside.

"Colonel, I- Your breakfast, I mean-". Schultz could only stammer, but Hogan cut him off, with a sharp movement of his hand.

"It´s okay, Schultz, take it, I´m not hungry."

Schultz nodded and hurried away, not knowing how to deal with the situation.

* * *

Hochstetter was also awake, but not out of concern, but out of satisfaction. 

_Today´s the day, today´s my day. Finally, Hogan will be forced to admit that he has lost to the Master Race, that we will not be insulted by worthless people like himself._

Humming Germany´s national anthem, Hochstetter finished dressing and went downstairs to have breakfast with his wife and son.

During the meal, he watched his son closely.

_Fritz, you will never become a second Colonel Hogan. You will follow your father along the only way to justice. I´m proud of you._

He looked at the uniform of the Hitlerjugend, which his son was wearing.

_In two years time, my boy, you will become a member of the Gestapo, just as your father..._

His thoughts were interrupted by his wife, who had watched her husband with astonishment.

"Wolfgang, you seem to be so happy today. Is it, someone´s birthday?".

Hochstetter shook his head. "No, Greta, it is certainly not. Let´s say that I´ve just achieved an important victory for the Führer, for the Third Reich.".

Greta shook her head. The war had changed her Wolfgang. Before Hitler had rose to power, he had owned a little shop and made his living from that. She remembered the old days. He had been a loving husband and a caring father.

_But Hitler came and brought that flicker into his eyes._

Hitler had not only changed Germany. Together with Germany, the people had changed.

_When was it, Wolfgang, that you turned into a murderer? When did you lose your sense of right and wrong? Can you ever understand?_

Greta turned away from her husband and continued repairing the sock, on which she had been working.

_I can´t fix the holes in your mind, Wolfgang, but at least I can fix your socks._

* * *

Klink sat in his office and was angrily typing a letter. Normally, Hilda would do this, but he had to release his temper on something, so he had chosen the typewriter to pay the price for everything that had happened. 

_Hochstetter can´t win, he can´t. _

"But he is!". The last words echoed in the empty room and Klink continued to hammer on the typewriter.

* * *

"Raus, raus boys! Alles raus! Roll call!". 

The grumbling crowd of prisoners followed Schultz.

Kinch looked toward the front gate. Wachtelschneider had not arrived yet.

_Don´t worry, there´s still time before Hochstetter comes. He will be there, he will be..._

Then, he turned his attention to Klink, who staggered out of his office.

"REPOOOOOORT!".

Schultz turned. "Herr Kommandant, all prisoners present and accounted for.".

Klink spun on his heels and marched back to his office shouting over his shoulder: "Dissmissssssed!".

At that moment, a Gestapo car pulled through the main gate.

Newkirk, Carter, Kinch and LeBeau exchanged shocked looks.

_He´s way too early!_

"KLINK!". As he heard his name, Klink turned around and walked up to Hochstetter.

"Yes, Herr Major. What do you want from me?".

Hochstetter chuckled. "Not from you, Klink. I want, Hogan...".

Klink glanced at his watch. "You´re too early, major. You´ll have to wait.".

"KLINK! I changed the time, because I have other urgent business to attend to. The firing squad will be here in a minute. And, Klink..". Hochstetter lowered his voice to barely a whisper. "Hogan´d better be there, or otherwise, I will take you instead!".

Klink shook his head.

_He´s a madman..._

Hochstetter smiled as he saw a truck pull into the camp.

"There they are, Klink. I will get Hogan and you, are to remain here and don´t move.".

He stalked away, but before he reached the solitary, he motioned towards the prisoners and said: "Oh yes, Klink, the prisoners will remain in formation. They will witness and know, that it is not worthwhile to stand up against the Third Reich!".

Chuckling madly, he walked away.

The four friends exchanged panic stricken looks.

_Wachtelschneider is not there..._

* * *

Hogan remained calm, as the guards dragged him out of the cell. He trusted his men. 

_Their plan will have succeeded, or I would have known._

On his way out, he tried to push away the doubts, who were coming up, as he saw the black uniformed guards line up, to form what he never had wanted to see. A firing squad.

Getting a bit worried, he turned towards his men and as he saw their panicking looks, the colour drained from his face.

_Uh oh. _

He turned his attention on Hochstetter, who came walking towards him.

For a moment, panic wanted to take control over him, but he forced himself to remain calm, if only on the outside. Inside, there were worms crawling through his stomach, trying to force themselves a way out.

"My dear Colonel. So this is it?".

Then, turning towards the guards. "Guards, handcuff him!".

His hands were pulled roughly behind his back and the cuffs clicked shut. Hochstetter pulled Hogan to the Barracks wall, opposite to the firing squad.

There, he pulled a blindfold out of his pocket, but as he wanted to put it over Hogans eyes, the American pulled away.

_I will not die with my eyes closed. _

"Colonel? Afraid of the dark?".

Hogan remained stoic.

_Don´t answer him, don´t answer. He will not have the pleasure._

His eyes travelled towards the blue sky.

_Is there a place for me in Heaven?_

Kinch´s mind was a big mass of chaos. He had to do something, they had to do something. When Hochstetter walked away, leaving the Colonel alone, his stomach turned and he wanted to make a run for Hochstetter, but he was restrained by the other prisoners. They could not leave him running off into misery.

Kinch desperately tried to get free from their grips. He knew he would never be able to forget the look in Hogans brown eyes, when he realised that the attempts to rescue him had gone bad,

That look did not blame them for not succeeding. It only said sorry. The look apologized for the fact, that Hogan could not protect his men any more and there was grieve, grieve because he would never see the end of what they had built. And at last there was respect, respect for what they had done for so long.

And it was this respect, that made the look unbearable. How could Hogan respect them, if they had failed their most important mission?

Kinch knew, that he could have dealt with anger, or pain, or sadness abut Hogan himself. But he could not deal with respect, that came with the death of a friend.

Kinch made eye contact with Hogan as Hochstetter shouted: "_Anlegen!_". The deer-brown eyes signaled once more.

_I am proud of you all. Continue without me, continue, keep on fighting._

A loud crash crashed into Kinch´s feelings and drove its way into his heart, then there was only silence, deep silence.


	17. Treasonous Tape

Thank you for the reviews, everybody. I apologize for having kept you waiting for this chapter...

* * *

Kinch could not open his eyes. He wanted the world to stay black, to keep reality from being. If he only kept his eyes closed, everything would remain the same.

But as he heard the commotion around him, he realised that this childlike approach would not work.

_If you can´t see the world, the world is still looking at you._

Preparing himself for whatever he might see, Kinch opened his eyes.

What he saw made his eyes widen in surprise and his heart jumped. A smile worked his way onto his face, together with new hope. Now he understood what the crash had been. It had not been the crash of a gun, but the crash of a staff car driving through the front gate, the _closed _front gate.

Out of the staff car jumped a man in a Gestapo uniform. Kinch peered towards the man and noticed that he wore the uniform of an_ Obe_r_gruppenführer_.

_Wachtelschneider!_

The German rushed toward Hochstetter and shouted. "Major, what do you think you are doing? I was informed that the execution would not take place until about nine o´clock. Can´t you read a clock. It is now exactly fifteen past eight!".

Hochstetter was clearly taken aback by this sudden appearance of a man he´d never met before. But within seconds, he regained his stance and said in an aggressive voice.

"And who are you? I do not think that you should mess with the Gestapo or with my prisoners. This is my responsibility, this is my prisoner, this is my... my...".

Hochstetter suddenly turned pale as he recognised the uniform.

"Oh- ehm, Obergruppenführer, I mean, I did not mean to insult you, I was just-".

"Major, stop talking. I want an explanation for all this. And it´d better be a good one...".

Hochstetter nodded. "Yes, of course, Herr Obergruppenführer. We will go into Klinks office. I will show you my evidence and explain my charges against this man.".

He pointed to Hogan. Then he shouted to the guards. "Guards, bring him back to the cooler. He will remain there, until we return, and then...".

Then he looked straight at Hogan. "We are not finished with you, Colonel, believe me...".

Klink hurried over to them. "Herr Obergruppenführer, I am Oberst Klink, the Kommandant of Stalag 13. Do you need anything?".

Wachtelschneider turned to him and nodded. "Yes, Herr Oberst. I need your office and you and the major here. You will be my witness and above all, you will need to write a report about this, so you will need the information. Come with me.".

The three Germans walked towards Klinks office. Hogan looked questioningly at his men. When he noticed their smiles, he calmed down.

Wachtelschneider turned and said. "Klink, the American is coming with us. All other prisoners will remain here until we return.".

Klink nodded. "Jawohl, Herr Obergruppenführer. Guards, bring Colonel Hogan into my office.".

* * *

Inside the office, Wachtelschneider observed the men before him and said: "_Ab jetzt wird nur noch Englisch gesprochen, meine Herren. (From now on, gentlemen, we will only speak English)."_.

Klink nodded, but Hochstetter looked taken aback. "I assume, all of you speak English. Colonel Klink? Major? We would not want our guest to think that we do not want him to understand us, do we?". Wachtelschneider remarked in slightly accented English.

Hochstetter turned red.

Wachtelschneider ignored him. "Have a seat, gentlemen.". All of them sat down, including Hogan. Hochstetter shot an angry look at him.

Wachtelschneider smiled. "Major, don´t be so bad tempered. I assume, that even our enemy´s are considered gentlemen, as long as they are not fully proven to be spies.". His voice was cold and Hochstetter nodded, embarrassed.

Then, Wachtelschneider turned to Klink. "Colonel, when exactly did this American come into your camp?".

"About one and a half years ago, December 1941. I think the 24th...",

Wachtelschneider chuckled. "A Christmas present? I did not know that the allies even bomb our city´s at Christmas eve.". The last sentence was spoken with a distinct tone of bitterness.

Now, Wachtelschneider turned to Hogan. "I think we know each other, Colonel? I could recite it in my sleep. You were quite a stubborn one, I remember. Let me see, Hogan Robert E., Colonel, Us Army AirCorps, 0876707, wasn´t it?".

Hogan nodded, silently. This guy was giving him the chills. Why had he remembered his serial number? Why had he even come here?

"Major, I want to see the proof, now.".

Hochstetter hurried to get a tape recorder. Then, he took of his cap and retrieved the tape from inside. Wachtelschneider raised his eyebrow, but choose to remain silent.

"This, Herr Obergruppenführer, is the ultimate proof, that this man here is the most dangerous man in Germany. And that this man", he pointed to Klink, "is the most incompetent person in the entire Reich. Every minute that he remains here costs the Third Reich about a hundred years. ".

Klink turned red, but Wachtelschneider cut Hochstetter off.

"Very well, major, but if this tape does not appear to be what you say it is, you will have to apologize for this insult against Colonel Klink.".

"Bah! It is a confession from an English Colonel, who had contact with Hogan and his men. He will know!", Hochstetter pushed the play button. The tape clicked and Hochstetters voice echoed through the room.

**Hochstetter: Colonel, so you want to tell us something?**

**Crittendon: Yes, Major. I want to inform you, that Colonel Robert Hogan is actually a spy. He runs an underground operation from beneath Stalag 13. He´s got everything, German uniforms, a radio, false money, identity cards, everything. With the radio, he is in direct contact with London and the Underground network around Hammelburg. He alone is responsible for numerous actions against the Third Reich. **

**Hochstetter: Colonel, do you know if he has any help?**

Hochstetter wore a grin from ear to ear, but Hogan paled.

_Crittendon you have betrayed us, you have told them everything. What is going to be next? Names? Names of al the good people, that helped us? I should have never left him here. He should have gone back to London. I should have... I had to... I..._

The tape continued:

**Crittendon: The operation is something unknown to everybody in the camp, except for Colonel Hogan. He has kept it hidden from both the prisoners and the camp Kommandant.**

Hogan wondered.

_Why does he lie after all this accurate information? He knows very well that there are more people involved than me. What is he up to?_


	18. The End

This is the final chapter of this story. I´d like to thank everybody who read and reviewed it.

* * *

Hochstetter jumped up with the biggest grin Hogan had ever seen on his face. He reached for the tape recorder, but Wachtelschneider grabbed his arm.

"Can´t you hear, Hochstetter? The tape is not finished yet. Why are you so eager to turn it off, before it has ended? Sit down, now!".

Hochstetter shrugged and sat down. Hogan wondered.

_What had Wachtelschneider meant by this comment? What could there be left on the tape?_

The tape recorder clicked once more, before Hochstetters voice spoke again.

**Thank you, Colonel. This has been very valuable information to us, although it is not true. laughing Here is the money I promised you. My guards will now escort you out off this camp and give you safe passage to Switzerland.**

Hochstetters eyes widened in shock. Wachtelschneider eyed him with obvious joy.

"Major, what do you say about this? Manipulating evidence? Giving prisoners the opinion to be released to Switzerland? Interesting methods, I must say...".

Hochstetter wiped the sweat from his forehead.

* * *

The men in Barracks Two roared with laughter, as they imagined Hochstetters face. Kinch patted Carter on the back.

"That was a great plan of yours to include the safe passage to Switzerland.".

LeBeau instantly stopped cheering. "Mais Kinch, they will want to check this and Crittendon is still in ´is camp."

Carter smiled. "Let´s say, that the Underground thought it was too dangerous to have him hanging around, so they brought him here yesterday evening. This was supposed to be a little surprise for the evening. The Underground came into Stalag 6 with a few of their men dressed like Gestapo guards, they convinced the Kommandant, that Crittendon was to be taken away by orders of Major Hochstetter.".

Kinch laughed, but then said: "And where is he now?".

"Down in the tunnel. We need to get him back to England as soon as possible. He´s really annoying. Can you imagine, he wants to plant flowers all over the tunnel, says that it will rise our spirits, when we return from our mission.".

Carter rolled his eyes. Kinch smiled. "Let´s continue listening. I want to know what happens to Hochstetter now."

* * *

"Herr Obergruppenführer, I have nothing to do with this, I assure you. I am a loyal German, I would never-".

"Major, this evidence of yours is all too clearly about your actions. Actually it is now evidence against you and not against the American Colonel. I think, that we should cancel the whole execution and begin to plan yours?".

Wachtelschneider smiled his ice-cold smile, while Hochstetter was nervously opening and closing the upper button of his uniform jacket.

"Certainly, Herr Obergruppenführer. Colonel Hogan will be released immediately.".

He grabbed the execution order from his pocket and held it out to Wachtelschneider. He took it and tore it into pieces. Major Hochstetter got up and wanted to leave, but Wachtelschneider stopped him.

"Major, don´t you think that you should apologize to Oberst Klink for the insult you placed against him?".

Hogan grinned broadly.

_Why is there never a camera around when you need one?_

Hochstetter sighed deeply and then turning to Klink, muttered with his head bright red.

"Colonel Klink, I apologize for the-". Hochstetter used all his power to pull himself together and let out the last word "insult".

Then he marched angrily out of the office.

Wachtelschneider got up and shook Klinks hand. "Colonel, I think this has an end now. It was a pleasure dealing with you.".

Then he left as well. Klink sighed.

"Finally, this has an end. Colonel, would you have a drink with me?".

Hogan grinned. "Would be a pleasure sir.".


End file.
